


Not as They Seem

by The_Sassy_Raccoon



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Black doesn't understand feelings, Body Horror, Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor panic attack, Murder, Non-Consensual Groping, Non-Consensual Touching, Nonbinary Character, Protectiveness, Self-Harm, Sexual Assault, Sickfic, The Skeld (Among Us)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:34:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28147650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Sassy_Raccoon/pseuds/The_Sassy_Raccoon
Summary: Black's head was spinning, not just from the space sickness but also from Cyan’s kindness. Humans weren’t supposed to be this nice, were they?Black had been taught his entire life that humans were selfish beings who wanted nothing more than to harm his home planet. What will he do when this particular crew starts to change his mind and what will he do about a certain light blue crewmate that he suddenly can't stop thinking about.
Relationships: Black & Cyan (Among Us), Black/Cyan (Among Us), Crewmate & Impostor (Among Us), Crewmate/Imposter
Comments: 33
Kudos: 196





	1. The Skeld

**Author's Note:**

> Hello All! First time posting anything and no beta reader either so sorry for any mistakes! I plan to update weekly if I can and will update the tags as needed. Hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 1: The Skeld

It was a simple mission, find the broken skeld, fix it up and get home. Simple. Cyan had fixed dozens of ships and gone on a number of missions. Cyan looked around the transport vessel a little bummed he didn’t recognize any of the other crewmates, other than Red, but that was fine he was good at making friends. To be fair, it was rare to get more than one or two crewmates you did know. MIRA liked to keep everyone in different places. Probably to make them more adaptable to differing groups.

“Hey, you doing alright?” Cyan asked looking towards Purple, “Is this your first mission?”

Purple’s helmet moved up with a start. Without even seeing their face Cyan could feel anxiety radiating from them.

“Oh, no. I’ve been on a mission before this one. Sorry, still a bit nervous is all.” Purple said quietly.

“Hey, I’m new too! This is my first mission so at least you’ve got a leg up on me!” Pink said coming over to sit next to Purple.

Purple looked over at Pink, body language still exposing their shyness.

“Well, if you two want I don’t mind showing you the ropes. Feel free to ask me any questions that come to mind.” Cyan said to the two newbies.

“Yes! That would be amazing. Thank you, Cyan!” Pink exclaimed looking over to Purple.

“Yes, thank you. If…if its not too much trouble.” Purple stuttered, staring at their hands.

“Well, that is awfully nice of you Cyan.” Yellow stated moving towards the group. “Not many senior officers would be willing to take such young minds. You two better listen to this one because not many newbies get this kind of luxury. Normally new recruits who get on seniors nerves get thrown out the air lock.” Yellow laughed.

“Oh stop it you’re going to scare them.” Cyan laughed back while giving Yellow a playful shove.

* * *

Black normally didn’t mind the chatter between the humans. He usually tuned them out so he could focus on studying who they were and their prior experience. This time was different, every squeal and shout from the Pink and Yellow ones made his head throb. Unfortunately for Black he never did acclimate to space sickness. Leaning against the window of the shuttle he tried to keep the nausea at bay. He wished he could rest his head against the cold glass panel but taking off his helmet would blow his cover.

“Hey, suck it up. These humans have been trained not to be bothered by space sickness. You’re giving us away, idiot.” A voice whispered in Black’s ear. Ah yes, White. His fellow imposter was using the private chat he had to talk to him. Normally he would be annoyed at the comment but felt too sick to make any sort of retort.

Really, he should feel happy he was put with an imposter such as White. He was well known on the imposter home planet for his quick missions and creative ways of killing humans, he even held some records and awards. Not to say Black hadn’t also gotten his share of awards, but White knew how to read humans and was a master of manipulation. ‘At least this mission should be quick’ Black thought to himself.

* * *

“So, the captain for this mission is Red. That role goes to the crewmate who has been on the most missions out of all the crewmates. Normally it isn’t too much work, but you are responsible for leading everyone if there is an emergency. They’re also responsible for reporting to MIRA each day.” Cyan explained to Pink and Purple, “In this case Blue should be close to becoming a captain soon someday so she may take more of a leadership role in this mission, but we’ll see. Now when we land, we typically…”

“Will you shut up over there!” Orange suddenly yelled, “They’ll figure it out. Just let them struggle for a bit. It won’t kill them.”

“Orange please, you were new once too. There is nothing wrong with helping the newbies. If Cyan wants to show them around then let him.” Green spoke up.

“Oh, of course, always making me seem like a jerk. Typical Green. God, why did I have to end up on another mission with you of all people. MIRA can’t give me a break can they. If they were smart, I would be captain of my own crew, everyone knows I’m more than capable.”

“Orange, we know you are a very capable crewmate. MIRA has a strategy for assigning captains. If you show diligence and earn the _respect_ of your fellow crewmates, then I’m sure MIRA will take notice.” Red finally interjected.

“Please don’t cause any trouble for us Orange we just want to get in and get out so we can go home. Right everyone?” Blue added on.

Looking around nods could be seen. Orange just slouched in his seat crossing his arms mumbling something rude about the azure crewmate.

“OK everyone T-minus 2 minutes until arrival. Please have your bags gathered and head straight to your rooms. We will meet in the cafeteria 10 minutes after landing to start our tasks for the day.” Red instructed.

* * *

The unloading process had gone as normal for Black. He did savor the few moments alone in his room where he could lay down and just breath without the movement of the transport shuttle. Although he still felt terrible it was nice to not feel like he was constantly spinning.

Red explained in a little more detail the basic day to day for the newcomers. There were 10 crewmates.. well 8 if you didn’t count Black and White. Basically, they would get up each day, eat breakfast, do some tasks, eat lunch, more tasks, dinner, sleep and one unlucky soul would be on night duty making sure the ship didn’t explode. Pretty standard from what Black knew. Normally he would be paying attention to the personalities of the crewmates for the first day, but he just felt so sick it was hard to focus.

After receiving his tasks Black made his way to electrical to start working on some wires. Normally as imposters they would either mess it up more or just not do any tasks. Today Black just laid his helmet against the panel and shut his eyes. Oh, why was the room still spinning? He hated this.

“Ugh, Black are you OK?” a tender voice spoke up. Black carefully turned his head to not make his nausea worse. Standing behind him was Cyan. Typically, Black tried to not talk too much to the crewmates, but of course they would want to talk to him today of all days.

“No.” Black stated. “I feel like shit.”

“Space sickness?” Cyan came closer to Black and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. Black tensed a little at this. A human had never touched him before.

“Yea… I know that’s not normal.” Black tried to save some face. White was right earlier. Humans were trained to deal with space sickness. It was almost unheard of among them.

“Oh man. I’m sorry. I knew someone in my training class who never got used to the space sickness. You’re definitely not alone. Here why don’t you give me your list of tasks and you can go rest for the rest of the day. Does that sound alright?” Cyan asked, now standing closer to Black, hand still on his shoulder.

Black was stunned and confused. He had no idea what to say. He was always told that humans were selfish jerks who only cared about themselves. He detected no sarcasm or anything other than genuine concern coming from Cyan. Why was he being so nice? It made no sense.

“Black? Do I need to take you to med bay?” Cyan asked his grip becoming slightly stronger on Black’s shoulder.

Finally, Black snapped out of his thoughts. “You would really take my tasks?”

“Well yea, you aren’t feeling good.”

Black could hear the sincere smile Cyan was most likely wearing at that moment.

“Ok…. Thank you.” Black said as he slowly moved away from the wall. Black made his way down to his room, head spinning, not just from the space sickness but also from Cyan’s kindness. Humans weren’t supposed to be this nice, were they?


	2. Just an Accident

Black had managed to sleep the rest of the day and did not wake until the next morning. He felt much better but was still confused by Cyan.

Black donned his suit and helmet and made his way to the cafeteria. There he saw Cyan sitting with Purple and Pink at one table, White, Yellow, and Green at another and finally Orange, Blue and Red sitting at a different table. Walking over to the wall he typed in his food order and grabbed his tray. Sitting with White would be too suspicious, so he decided to sit with Cyan and the newer crewmates.

“Black! Hello, are you feeling better today?” Cyan asked as Black sat next to him.

“Yes, thank you again.” Black said still feeling weird about the situation.

“I was just telling these two about the engine and the different tasks we do with it.” Cyan said pointing to Pink and Purple. “Do you have anything to do in upper or lower engine today? I would show them myself, but I don’t have any tasks there today.”

“…yes” Black said slowly, uncomfortable with where he thought this conversation was going.

“Awesome! Would you be able to take Pink with you? I want him to get as much experience on this mission as possible. It would be a big help. Of course, I don’t want to impose too much, so don’t feel bad if you want to say no.”

What was with this crewmember? First, he takes on Black’s tasks so he can rest, now he wants to help out these newer crewmates. Black’s mind was going a million miles a minute. Everything he had known was unraveling. Yes, he had seen civility and general politeness between crewmates, but never had he seen someone show genuine selflessness and kindness to other humans. Black was so confused.

“….um…Black?... Are you feeling sick again?” Cyan said trying to look through Black’s helmet to see if he was still with them.

“Huh?” Black said snapping out of his spiraling thoughts “what? Yea, I can take Pink.”

“Oh, thank you, Black!” Pink said standing up excitedly. “I promise I won’t be in the way. I’ll do everything you tell me to!” The bright crewmate started bouncing up and down on their feet excitedly. 

“OK give me a minute to get some other stuff done. I’ll meet you in upper engine, alright?” Black said shoveling his meal into the food slot on his suit.

“Of course! I’ll meet you there!” Pink said as they skipped off in the direction of the upper engine.

“Hey, don’t forget your other tasks too!” Cyan yelled after him as Pink left the room. Cyan sighed happily, “Thank you for doing this. It means a lot. Pink is very eager to learn. Welp, that’s enough for one morning, come on Purple lets go see if I can show you how the shields work. See ya later, Black.”

Black did not respond, once again trapped by his whirlpool of thoughts about humans.

* * *

Black eventually made his way to the upper engine. Deciding that this would be good a time as any, Black approached Pink who was waiting eagerly by the south door.

“Hi Black! Thanks again, I really appreciate it. Maybe I can return the favor by doing some of your tasks lat…” Pink did not get to finish his sentence. Black approached quickly and turned Pink’s neck swiftly with a resounding snap. Fast with no pain or suffering, the way Black had been taught.

Black had killed dozens of crewmates. Each one as simple as the last, but for some reason as he felt Pink’s body become heavy in his arms, he felt his stomach become heavy as well. Why did he suddenly have this sinking feeling? What were these new emotions? He felt like he was going to be sick again.

Trying to take his mind off the kill he began to harvest the parts that his superiors required. Unfortunately, one of the pieces his kind needed was located in the chest cavity of the human, making the imposters’ work quite messy. Normally after a kill he would drag the upper half of the body off to do the dirty work and leave the lower half behind, but due to his wandering mind Black harvested right in front of the engine when a sudden shake of the ship caused Pink’s body to slip from his arms and fall right into the upper engine.

Black froze in disbelief. Pink’s legs could still be seen poking out of the engine, but the upper half was lodged well into it. As the gears turned, a bright red began coating the machine. Black hadn’t even cut into the human yet and he had only been able to get one piece from the man, but that would have to do. Black stared for a few more minutes before his senses came back to him. He ran for the nearest vent and jumped in. Once there he pulled his legs up to his chest and just sat there, trying to think of what he would even say. This was so unlike anything that had ever happened. What was this mission becoming?

* * *

“Hey, I think you got it!” Cyan praised Purple as they successfully turned on the shields without assistance.

“Thank you, Cyan” Purple said looking towards the ground.

“You’re doing so well. I’m sure you’ll make captain in no time.” Cyan kept saying as they slowly made their way to communications. “Let me download some files and we can hit admin before lunch alright?”

Purple nodded as they made their way down the hallway. Purple jumped suddenly as the ships meeting alarm blared.

“Everyone, please make your way to the cafeteria immediately. Thank you.” Red’s voice chimed over the loudspeaker. Although not panicked, Cyan could sense a hint of tension in Red’s normally laid-back demeanor.

Once Cyan and Purple arrived at the cafeteria, they walked in to see Red, Blue and Black sitting at a table. Black’s head was hung low. _Oh no_ , Cyan thought, he noticed Pink was not with them. He also felt Purple tense next to him, they must have realized the same thing.

It took a few more minutes for the crew to assemble, but Red did not hesitate once everyone was present.

“Crew, it is with a heavy heart that I must report there has been a grave accident today.” Whispers could be heard amongst the crewmates, but Red carried on. “I’m sure most of you felt the turbulence we hit earlier today. I’m sorry to report that this turbulence caused our newest crewmate, Pink, to fall into the upper engine and die.”

At this point the crewmates were gasping. Most in shock that something like this could happen.

“I’m sorry,” Black whispered. “I was almost to the engine when the ship was jostled. I tried to help Pink but was too late.” He stated, his head lowering even more.

“Oh, Black. Its not your fault, I’m sorry. If I hadn’t had Pink join you today this wouldn’t have happened.” Cyan said. Black could smell the guilt coming off him. Again, another confusing reaction. Other crewmates did smell sad or indifferent in Orange’s case, but Cyan was radiating waves of guilt.

“I think its safe to say that you all can have the rest of the day off. I will be sending a report to MIRA. I’m sure new protocols in the engine room will follow. You are all excused.” Red said as they and Blue walked towards the captain’s quarters.

“Black, do you need to talk to someone?” Yellow said approaching the imposter. This was the first thing this particular crewmate had even said to Black, but her voice was filled with nothing but concern, for him of all beings.

The nausea from yesterday returned suddenly. The room began to spin again, and Black felt like he was going to pass out.

“…no… I need to be alone.” Black said quickly as he sped towards his room. Once inside, his stomach finally had it. His helmet came flying off as he emptied his guts into the toilet. Hugging the toilet after a kill was not a place he ever thought he would be and yet here he was.

After cleaning himself up, Black decided to leave the helmet off in order to breath a little better. Laying on his bed, Black tried to center his thoughts. His entire life he had been taught to kill, feel nothing, and follow orders. Now he still killed but felt everything. Why couldn’t the humans just be the self-centered jerks he had been taught about. Why was this particular crew getting to him? It was only the second day for crying out loud!

Black was brought out of these thoughts by the sound of the vent in his room suddenly opening. The upper half of White’s body popped out of the vent, but he stayed standing inside. White was also helmetless and wore a slight smirk on his face.

“Soooooo, that “accident”, that was you right?” White said smile growing even larger. “Killed Pink and then made it look like an accident? Please tell me that was you. This will go down in history books if true. That is so clever! I’m mad I didn’t think to do something like this. Could really help with the final two crewmates on solo missions to get rid of an extra body early on.” White smiled at Black expectantly the grin becoming even larger thanks to their species’ extra wide mouths. White’s teeth were even visible giving him a manic look.

“It was partially true. I did kill Pink, but when I went to harvest the parts the ship shook, and the body fell into the engine.” Black said with a frown on his face.

“Oh… so you got nothing from that kill?” White said his smile faltered slightly.

“I got one part, but that’s it.”

“Oh,” White’s ears perked up. “well that’s good. Now we can show the superiors that there is something to this method. Just needs to be perfected. Good job though. So freaking clever, even if it was an accident. This will be historical. Keep up the good work.” White said smiling as he descended back into the vent.

Black’s frowned deepened. He was told killing the humans was to protect his planet and that humans would stop at nothing to kill them. That just didn’t seem to be the case. Why did it seem like his world was falling apart?

Once again, Black’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. Putting on his helmet he gave a gentle “Come in.” As he sat up on his bed, he saw Cyan standing slightly awkwardly in the doorway.

“Hey, I just wanted to come check on you. You seemed really torn up about Pink earlier and I just wanted to see how you were doing.” Cyan said wringing his hands together.

“I’m…. processing” Black said after a moment, unsure what to say to the crewmate that was turning his life upside down.

“Ah, yea. That makes sense. I’m sorry for bothering you. I’ll head back to my room. Let me know if you need anything, OK?” Cyan said quickly as he started to leave.

“Wait,” Black said suddenly “can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” Cyan said stopping in his tracks.

“This mission, MIRA’s missions, do you know what they are for? I know we are here to fix the ship, but what about the overall mission. What part are we playing?”

“Wow, those are quite the questions, Black,” Cyan laughed nervously, “to be honest, I guess I don’t really know. They always made it seem like exploration was our main goal. I know there was a war with a group quite a while ago, but that seems to have calmed down now. I think we are just trying to see what is out here, ya know? Why do you ask?”

Underneath his suit Black was bristling. So, MIRA was potentially lying to their workers, or maybe it was just his superiors, perhaps both sides were not being completely honest. Imposter after imposter was sent to kill humans under the impression humans were coming to kill all of them when really the humans didn’t know what was going on either. Now Black has no idea what the truth is. All he knows is that both innocent humans and imposters were slaughtering each other.

“Thank you, Cyan. I just wanted to know if you thought Pink died for a good cause.”


	3. Headaches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all are doing well! Sorry about this chapter, but I just couldn't resist the hurt/comfort :).

Black was the first one up the next day. After making his way to the cafeteria he took the seat closest to the large windows so he could look out into space and get lost in his thoughts. White followed behind not long after.

“Hey, we might want to keep a low profile for a day or two. Just to create a sense of calm before we really get things rolling.” White stated as he walked by Black and out through the left side of the room. _Good_ , Black thought to himself, he didn’t feel like killing anyone.

Soon after White left Yellow and Cyan walked into the room. They grabbed their breakfast and made their way towards Black.

“Good morning, Black. How are you?” Yellow asked kindly as she and Cyan sat down.

“Fine, I guess.” He replied quietly.

Cyan and Yellow looked at each other. _Perhaps they are having a private conversation through their helmets_ Black thought given their body language and lack of words. He didn’t mind. The less they talked to him the better. He just needed to be alone today to get his thoughts and emotions sorted out.

Not too much longer Purple and Green walked into the room. Green was softly talking to Purple and had a comforting hand on their shoulder. The two went over to the wall to get their breakfast. On their way over to the table Purple’s foot snagged on a chair. Their food went flying over the floor and they fell to their knees.

Cyan and Yellow immediately went over to assist Purple. Cyan checking to see if Purple was OK and Yellow began to clean up what had been spilled. Green also stood by, making sure the young crewmate was OK. Black’s chest tightened, he hurt all these humans with a single kill and for the first time in his life he truly felt guilty.

* * *

Cyan’s day was going as well as it could have. Thoughts of guilt continued to plague his mind and Purple was not faring any better. He could also sense Black was at war with himself. He hoped Black was doing alright, he had been quiet since the accident. Cyan only hoped his words last night brought Black some peace. Cyan did think they were doing important work here and Pink’s death hadn’t been for nothing, although he couldn’t escape the what ifs. What if Cyan had just left Pink alone, would he still be alive? 

It was later in the afternoon. All of the crew had gathered for lunch, except Cyan hadn’t seen Black in the cafeteria. This worried him, but Cyan also knew some people just needed more space than others after tragic events so Cyan backed off.

_Just two more tasks then I’m done_ , Cyan thought to himself as he made his way to the reactor. Lucky for him both his tasks were in this room, unfortunately reactor maintenance took forever. At least he would get some alone time.

Cyan was about to turn into the reactor room when it hit him. The world was suddenly spinning, and his head burst with pain. _Crap, stupid migraine,_ Cyan thought to himself. He had stumbled slightly and was now leaning against the doorway into reactor. There was no way he would be able to focus enough to do such an important task. It would just need to be moved to tomorrow. Dang it, just more to do.

Holding his head steady Cyan made his way back toward his room. Once there he sent a quick message to Red to let them know about the incomplete tasks and why he wouldn’t be at dinner.

His head was torturing him. Cyan finally made it back to his room, throwing his helmet into the corner, Cyan took off his suit and buried himself under his bed covers. The darkness only provided minor relief, but at least it was something. Cyan did have medication for this in his bathroom, but there was no way he was making it there in his current state. All he could do now was curl into a ball and pray for sleep to take over.

* * *

Black spent the day wandering around the ship. He was not following his task list, just kind of floating room to room. He did run into most of the crew throughout the day, a few asked him how he was doing but for the most part they let him be.

He did notice that out of everyone he saw that day, he did not see Cyan. When dinner came around everyone was there except the light blue crewmate. That was strange, Cyan did not seem like the type to miss out on social gatherings. A twinge of worry filled Black, where was Cyan and why did Black care so much?

After he was finished with dinner he immediately left. Most thought he just wanted to be alone like he had been all day, but Black had a different goal in mind.

Walking up to Cyan’s door was nerve wracking. Why was he so nervous? Cyan had checked in on Black countless times since the mission started, caring about another crewmate was not weird… despite what Black had been trained to think.

Hand shaking, Black lightly knocked on the door. There was no response. Strange, maybe he just wasn’t there. Black turned to go look elsewhere until he heard a pained groan from behind the door. That wasn’t normal. What was wrong with Cyan?

Black turned back toward the door. Taking a breath Black slowly slid the door open, hoping it would not seem too invasive. He could tell the lights were off even though he could still see just fine. Black did not immediately see Cyan until he noticed a human shaped bump on the bed. What was he doing curled up like that? He wasn’t feeling space sick, was he? That wouldn’t make any sense. At first Black wondered if he was just mourning but Cyan’s scent did not hint at any grief or guilt, no that smell was pain.

“Cyan?” Black whispered. “What’s wrong?”

Black could see the sheets on the bed shiver and a faint sob could be heard. This concerned Black immediately, what was wrong with this crewmate?

A few more sobs could be heard from Cyan’s blanket den. Eventually Black was able to make out the word “migraine” from one of those noises.

Oh, Black had never had a migraine before, but from what he could see it wasn’t fun. He was perplexed by the human. He had always seen them as strong (although not as strong as his species) and indifferent to the world around them, nothing could bother them. Now he was seeing what could be. This human was soft and vulnerable. Black could easily kill him and it might be a day or so before anyone found Cyan’s body. The voice in Black’s head told him to take the kill. It was easy and he would be putting Cyan out his misery. It would be a mercy kill.

No. Although Black’s mind was telling him one thing his newly found emotions would not let him harm Cyan. Sweet Cyan who had been nothing but kind to everyone he had met.

“Can I do anything to help?” Black found himself asking.

“Meds…bathroom.” Cyan sobbed.

Going into the bathroom Black had to do a little digging, but eventually he found a pill bottle with the words “as needed for migraines” on the bottle. He took the bottle over to Cyan.

Cyan slowly unraveled himself from his cocoon and took one of the pills before resubmerging into his fort. “Thank you.”

Black was about to leave before Cyan spoke up again.

“Could you sit with me? Please? Just for a bit.” Cyan breathed, clearly still in pain.

Black froze, sit? With Cyan? Like, on his bed or next to him? What was he supposed to do? Was this normal for crewmates to do for each other?

Black’s first question was answered when Cyan shifted his legs to make room for Black at the end of the bed. Although Cyan was still laying in the bed, Black maneuvered over his legs to sit upright with his back against the wall the bed was against. Unsure what else to do Black tried to relax. It was a little cramped with how tall Black was but Cyan was short enough that he could still comfortably cross his legs without being in Cyan’s space too much.

Cyan’s hand snuck out from the blankets and grabbed onto Black’s. Black tensed for a moment before relaxing and giving what he hoped was a reassuring squeeze. Despite Black’s instincts telling him not to, he wanted to help Cyan. He deserved it.

* * *

Cyan slowly woke, a little groggy from his medication. When had he fallen asleep? Cyan could feel the worst of the migraine fading. Although his head still hurt, it was much more manageable. Moving out from under the blankets he was a little surprised to see Black sitting there, still holding one of his hands. Oh yes, that’s right. Black had come to check on him and got him his meds. He even stayed with him through his pain. It looked like Black might have been asleep with how still he was but as Cyan sat up, Black’s helmet turned towards him.

“How are you feeling?” Black asked with that deep voice of his.

“Better, still sore but I’ll be ok… thank you for staying with me.” Cyan could feel his face getting red as he took his hand back from Black. Thank goodness the lights were off or Black would have been able to see how badly he was blushing. “You don’t have to hang around any longer. I do appreciate you staying though.” Cyan smiled at Black.

This was the first time Black had been able to see Cyan’s face. The man’s eyes were hypnotizing. They were the color of cyan blue, maybe that was why he chose that alibi and color for his missions, to match his eyes. Black couldn’t find it in himself to look away. He was mesmerized.

“Oh gosh, look at the time. Its so late. You should head back to your room, Black. I don’t want you to be too tired tomorrow. Don’t you have night duty tomorrow?”

Cyan was right he should sleep. He would need to be up late tomorrow.

“Ok, I’ll head out then. Let me know if you need anything.” Black said as he carefully maneuvered over Cyan’s legs and headed towards the door.

“Thank you again Black. I truly appreciate it.” Cyan smiled again, that dark red painting his face once more. Although Cyan thought he was safe, Black could clearly see the change in color on his cheeks. 

“Goodnight Cyan. Sleep well.” Black said with an invisible smile as the door slid shut behind him.


	4. Double Kill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Y'all! You ready for some murder!? oh... and more fluff of course :)

The next morning Black skipped breakfast to sleep in. Darn nightshift. Helping Cyan felt good but he wished it had been timed a little better. Sleeping in helped but he knew it would be a long day.

Black headed to his first “task” of the day. Oh, good he got to “clean” the reactor and move the power around a bit, pretty simple.

He was just outside of reactor when he spotted two crewmates inside. Cyan was currently on his back underneath one of the panels, doing maintenance. Black checked his list, Cyan wasn’t scheduled for reactor today?

On the left side of the room Black noticed Yellow there as well. She was currently looking at one of the emergency switches for the reactor.

Hearing footsteps approach, Yellow looked up from her task, “Oh, hello Black, missed you at breakfast earlier.”

Black saw Cyan stop for a moment before he scooted out from underneath the panel.

“Oh yea, that was probably my fault,” Cyan said sheepishly “I got a bad migraine last night and Black stayed up pretty late helping me. Sorry about that, I shouldn’t have asked the night before you did night shift. Thank you again though, it was a big help.”

“You’re welcome,” Black said “but why are you two here? I don’t see either of you scheduled for reactor today.”

“That would also be due to the migraine. There was no way I could do this work in the state I was in, so I had to push it to today. Yellow is being the amazing person she is and is helping me with checking the emergency switches, so it won’t take as long.” Cyan explained.

“Oh well thank you for the kind words, sir.” Yellow laughed as she went back to checking the switches. 

“Should I come back later? I don’t want to be in your way.” Black said standing there uncomfortably.

“No no. You come in and do your work. We’ll figure it out.” Cyan said as he beckoned Black into the room.

About half an hour went by and the three of them were still working on their tasks. Cleaning the reactor was not hard by any means but it sure was time consuming and boring. Normally Black would be throwing debris into the machine to try and damage it, but today he was making sure the gears and parts were clean and properly greased.

Sleeping in did some good, but he couldn’t escape the loud yawn that eventually came from his mouth. The two other crewmates stopped and looked at him. Black felt his face grow hot. He did his best to avoid looking back, embarrassed that he had drawn so much attention to himself.

“Hey Black,” Yellow started speaking, “that was an awfully nice thing you did for Cyan last night. Why don’t I keep the nice train rolling, yea? How would you feel if we swapped night shifts? I can take tonight and you take two days from now.”

Black finally looked back towards the others. Again, with the niceness, Black’s head was going to explode. “That would be great.” Black said as he finished up the last of his task.

Black scurried out of the reactor room, his head down and his ego bruised slightly.

“Awe, that is really nice of you Yellow. You sure you’ll be alright tonight?” Cyan said as he watched Black nervously leave the room. Poor guy must be embarrassed. 

“Oh yea, I’ll be fine. I’m something of a night owl so staying up late isn’t too bad. So, he came and helped you out huh? Something starting between the two of you?”

“With Black? I don’t think so. He’s so quite and seems confused most of the time? He acts like no one has ever been nice to him before… it makes me sad to think he has only been with jerks before this.”

“Well, this has been a friendlier crew than most. I hope he opens up. He might not show it, but I really feel like the situation with Pink is eating away at him. He seems to be pretty sensitive despite his cold exterior. Anyway, I don’t mean to pry, I just want you all to be OK. Switches are good to go, so I’ll be heading off. See you later, Cyan.” Yellow said as she made her way out of reactor. “Oh, and know I’m hear to listen if you need to talk too Cyan. I know you were also close to Pink.” Yellow added before she moved into the hallway and out of sight.

Cyan silently nodded and finished up the rest of the reactor maintenance.

* * *

Cyan had taken a quick break after working on the reactor and made his way to electrical to download some data from the room. His mind was still on Black. Had no one ever been nice to him before? That could explain why he was so quiet. It could also be his intimidating presence. Black was probably the tallest person Cyan had ever worked with before. Adding that with his silent nature it was no wonder most people probably avoided him, but still he acted perplexed whenever Cyan was nice to him, hopefully he wasn’t the only one to show Black any sort of friendship. 

Cyan was still lost in his thoughts as he made his way around the light panel in electrical. Looking up, he was a little surprised to see not just one crewmate but three other crewmates hanging out in the back of the room. Black, White, and Purple were all there.

White was showing Purple how to work with the calibrate distributor while Black stood next to them working with the wires.

“Hello Cyan, how are you today?” White asked in a friendly manner looking over towards Cyan.

“Oh, I’m fine. Just came to get some data.” Cyan replied as he made his way past White. “Hello again, Black.” Cyan took their place next to Black to access the download panel. Once he got the download started all he had to do was wait. Cyan looked over to Black, but Black looked stiff, the back of his helmet was all Cyan could see.

Black was looking towards White and seemed… nervous? Was there something going on between the two or maybe he just felt guilty working so close to Purple? Again, he was quiet and hard to read. Even his body language did not give too much away.

* * *

Black tensed as soon as White said the word Cyan. Crap, here they were in one of the best killing spots with Cyan and Purple. It was bad enough when White walked in with the younger crewmate, a kill surely on his mind, but Cyan just made things more difficult. White was now looking towards him, surely an anticipatory look on his face. The thought process was clear, perform a double kill then keep a low profile. Black would agree that it was a smart plan, but there was no way he could go through with it. He was closest to Cyan, he couldn’t hurt him, no way.

White adjusted his posture, one arm leaning up against the back wall, blocking Purple from going anywhere. Black couldn’t take this, his heart was pounding in his chest and he had to actively watch his breathing so no one could hear him hyperventilate. The two crewmates were in immediate danger and only he could stop it.

Black suddenly backed up from the wires and looked towards White. “White can I talk with you for a second…alone?” Black said failing to hide the anxiety in his voice. 

White tilted his head, confused. If Black wanted to talk why not use the private chat though the helmets? Black knew this seemed suspicious, but his goal was to get White away from the two crewmates.

“Come on, White, we can talk in communications.” Black moved and grabbed White’s arm, forcing him out of electrical and down towards the communication room.

White’s shock of being grabbed and dragged to a different location quickly wore off and turned to anger.

The two entered communications and Black shut and locked the door.

“What the hell are you doing!?” White seethed coming up to Black. “That was a perfect double kill set up and you ruined it.” Pulling off his helmet he flashed a snarl at Black, his pointed teeth threateningly close to the others face. “You better have a good reason for doing this.”

Black panicked, he just stood there stiffly, hands beginning to shake slightly. “I just didn’t feel good about it. The humans are still too shaken up for my liking from the first kill. I think it would be better to wait a little longer.” Black said looking at his feet, helmet still on his head. Black could feel his hands start to get sweaty, that was annoying. It took some real stress to get imposters to sweat. His hands were already kind of scaly, moisture would just dry them out further and cause cracks in his skin. 

“…You’re concerned that the humans… are too… shaken up?” White looked confused and then pissed, “what do you care about how these humans feel? If anything, you should be wanting to hurt them when it would do the most damage, physically and emotionally. You out of all people should hate humans more than anyone. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten what happened. I doubt you really need a reminder.” White said anger filling his eyes.

“I know, don’t bring it up. I’m just saying I had a bad feeling about that kill. That’s all, I’m sorry alright? I mean if we have more of them alive the more psychological damage we can do. I know that’s kinda your thing.” Black said hoping his lie would be convincing enough.

White stopped to think. He eyed Black carefully still confused by his fellow imposter’s behavior.

“I suppose so.” White said slowly still glaring at Black.

“Look, you can even have the next kill. Make it good and set up the pins to really let these humans have it.”

White smiled slightly, “Alright, sounds fair enough.” White looked like he was going to leave but suddenly he was right back in Black’s face, “But don’t get in the way of my kills again. If I say to kill, you kill, got it? Or do I need to remind you who the senior here is?”

“Yes, sir.” Black said careful to not let his fear show in his voice.

White just gave a curt nod and put his helmet back on and left the room. Cyan and Purple should be finished by now and in the cafeteria. They would be safe, but for how long? Black would need to be careful to protect Cyan and as many crewmates as he could.

* * *

Cyan was confused by Black and White’s sudden leave, he knew it was none of his business, but he couldn’t help but be curious. Cyan didn’t even know Black and White had talked to one another. Maybe he had read Black all wrong and those two were together. Was White jealous that Black had helped him last night? I guess it doesn’t look too good to come back late from another crewmates bunk, but nothing had happened between them. Hopefully Cyan hadn’t caused too many problems. Maybe he could talk to Black and help smooth things out with White if he needed.

His download was finally done, and he could upload it before going to lunch.

“You doing all right over there, Purple?” Cyan asked as he was about to leave.

“Yea, finished up. Did you get the feeling there was something weird between those two?” Purple asked as they and Cyan headed towards admin.

“Yes, but it is probably best to leave them to their thing.” Cyan started their upload as the two entered admin, his mind wandering back to the two again.

The two then made their way into the cafeteria, grabbing their food and sitting at one of the tables. Black and White eventually appeared as well, both sitting at Cyan’s table as well.

“Get those buttons figured out?” White asked Purple as the air remained tense between the four of them.

White and Purple started talking and Cyan looked over to Black. He seemed tense. What happened between him and White? 

_SLAM!_

Cyan jumped when he heard a violent slamming on one of the tables. Turing around he could see Orange standing over Green.

“Screw you! You know I didn’t mess up those wires. I’m not an idiot, I know how to do something as simple as wires.” Orange yelled in Green’s face.

“Well, I don’t know who else would have done it. You were assigned the wires in cafeteria and when I walked past them, they were in horrendous shape. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to sabotage this mission.” Green said also standing, not backing down.

“I’m a sabotage?! I bet you messed with the wires to make me look bad! You bitch!” Orange said fist poised to collide with Green’s helmet. Suddenly Red appeared and grabbed Orange’s arm.

“That is enough,” they said sternly. “Orange, report to my office immediately. We will talk about this. Green to your bunk. We will also chat later.”

Neither Orange nor Green moved. They just kept staring each other down, the tension between the two growing. 

“Now!” Red barked.

Orange freed his arm from Red’s grip and made his way out of the room. Green and Red followed shortly after.

“Well, that made this day a little bit more exciting.” Yellow said as she made her way over to the group of four.

“Yea, of course Orange and Green would be the ones to be throwing out accusations of sabotage. They must know how serious that can be.” Cyan replied. Looking toward everyone else, he noticed Black looked even more tense than before if that was even possible. Purple looked shaken up, but that was to be expected. White looked…. excited? Strange, but maybe he just liked gossip material.

“Gives me something good to write about in my journal tonight at least.” Yellow laughed.

“You still OK to take the night shift?” Cyan asked. White suddenly turned their head towards Black like that was news to him. Oh crap, had Cyan just made things worse between those two?

“Sure am, got my journal and my books ready to go. It’ll be nice to have some real alone time ya know?”

“Heh, yea totally.” Cyan breathed, nervous about his potential social slip. Oh, great Black seemed somehow even more uncomfortable, he was probably going to kill Cyan for that.

* * *

Black was digging a hole for himself and it was just getting deeper. First, he didn’t do the double kill and now White found out that Yellow was taking his night shift. Of course, White had to find out and from someone that wasn’t him. White questioned if Black was planning a kill for that night, but he denied any such plans. He wasn’t too happy with the soft chuckle White gave as he and Black went their separate ways.

Black wander around the ship. It was late enough that he shouldn’t be running into anyone else on this side of the ship. O2, garbage, and navigation were usually done in the morning with the night shift person taking care of it once it got late enough.

Black walked into navigation and went over to the vent. He stood looking down at it. His mind started to get lost in between the dark slits on the cover. Maybe he could just disappear forever into these vents. White could call him a lost cause and he would never need to return to his home planet. The crew might not survive, but at least he wouldn’t be responsible for anymore murder.

“Black?”

Black jumped at the sound of his alias. Spinning around, he saw Cyan sitting in the navigation chair.

“Cyan? What… why are you here? No one else is supposed to be over here.” Black stuttered as he tried to get his mind to work. A crewmate was the last thing he expected to run into right now, although now that he tried to think about it, that wasn’t very sound thinking.

“Oh, well I finished all my tasks and I like to come in here to look out the window. I like the view of space from here.”

Black didn’t know what to say, his brain barely registered that Cyan had even replied. He was going back into panic mode.

“Hey, can we… talk for a minute?” Cyan asked nervously, now fiddling with his hands.

Talk? What did Cyan need to talk to him about? Full panic rushed through Black. Did Cyan know he wasn’t a human? Black tried to think of how Cyan would even know. It didn’t look too good that he was with Pink that day, but there was no hard evidence against Black there. Him and White were weird earlier, but again that wasn’t completely inhuman. Oh god, was it his hands? Cyan had grabbed Black’s hand last night. His species did have strange scaly hands with long claw like fingers. Did he feel something through the glove?

“Are you and White… together? Like a couple?”

Black’s thoughts froze. Well that wasn’t what he was expecting. “Ugh, pardon?” Black stuttered out now learning against the wall. This crewmate was going to give him an aneurysm.

“Like a romantic couple?” Cyan now said more shyly. “I don’t mean to assume, but just the way you two acted today. I feel like I might have gotten you in trouble with White. If you two are together, I hope he isn’t jealous that you helped me. I’m more than willing to go talk to him and smooth things over if you think it would help.”

“No!” Black yelped suddenly. Cyan jumped slightly in surprise.

“I mean, no, we aren’t together. There isn’t anything to talk about. He was just… ugh… frustrated that we were…um… overlapping in some tasks, yea and he wasn’t happy that we weren’t being completely streamlined… he ugh really likes to do things efficiently.” Black tried to laugh, but it came out more as a strangled wheeze.

Cyan felt his face get hot under his helmet. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I really read that situation wrong. I’m sorry… I ugh.” Cyan’s hands moved quicker as he became more embarrassed.

“Its alright.” Black said trying to calm the man.

“So… heh… have you worked with White before?” Cyan asked trying to change the subject.

“You could say that.” Black kept it vague, he knew Cyan was just trying to smooth out the conversation, but he was starting to get into some dangerous territory. “I don’t mean to be rude, but… I should head off to bed. I’m still pretty tired from yesterday.”

“Oh yea! Of course, I’m sorry to keep you Black. Have a good night.” Cyan waved as Black left the room.

Black’s face started to heat up a little as he left the room, the view from navigation really was stunning after all.

* * *

Yellow settled in for the night. It was going to be long, but luckily, she had her journaling and book to keep herself occupied. Night shift was usually uneventful, but an important job. It was implemented after a crew had died because the O2 system went down while they were all asleep. Tragic, but an important lesson. Yellow didn’t mind night shift, it was pretty simple and it gave her some much needed time to recharge from being around the others for hours on end.

Yellow was sinking deeper into her book’s story when she heard a strange noise come from down the hall. It sounded like something had popped out of place. _Well that isn’t good_ Yellow thought to herself. Sighing she put her book down and went to go see what had made the noise.

Coming from navigation she popped her head into O2 real quick. Nothing out of place in there. She continued her way down to shields. She jumped as she thought she heard another popping noise come from back in navigation. Her heart started to beat a little faster. This was strange, but there was probably an explanation. Nothing seemed out of place as she continued down the hallway. She reached shields and released her tense breath. Finally, the source of the noise, the cover to the vent had come off. 

_That is so weird,_ Yellow thought, _probably just a change in air pressure._ Yellow figured the other noise must have come from the vent in the navigation room. Suddenly she heard loud footsteps behind her. Yellow gasped and spun around quickly but saw nothing. Trying to look around the corners of the hallway she still could not see anything behind her.

Turning back around she almost got out a scream as White was now standing right in front of her. White didn’t hesitate, he punched Yellow in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. Now silenced White was smooth with his knife and slid it cleanly though her neck. A perfect cut between where the helmet and suit met. Time seemed to stand still and White savored every second of it. Yellow seemed to just be hunched over, but seconds later her head came rolling off her shoulders, blood pouring from the wound.

White chuckled to himself. Such a clean kill, it was comedic the way her body fell over. White grabbed the helmeted head and tossed it into the vent like it was a basketball. _Score!_ White thought to themselves as the head landed perfectly in the vent.

Turning back to the rest of the body, White began his harvest. Most imposters like to drag bodies into the vents, but White knew he had time and he wanted to leave a nice prank behind from his kill. Those humans won’t know what hit them and Black was missing out. 


	5. An Imposter Among Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Just a quick heads up that I updated some of the tags. New tag for self harm in this chapter. If you'd rather not read that kind of thing you can skip the last section after the 3rd line break to skip it.

The next morning Cyan joined Blue and Purple as they headed from breakfast down to their first task of the day. Cyan had to go reset the shields and Blue decided to show Purple the navigation controls.

Breakfast had been pretty uneventful. Cyan did notice White to be in a good mood and Yellow had been absent but that was typical for crewmates after night shift. Other than that, the other crewmates seemed same as normal.

Cyan was walking just ahead of Purple and Blue, the two of them were talking about navigation and some of the best ways to keep the ship on course. Cyan was just entering shields when he saw Yellow. The bright crewmate was laying facedown on top of the vent arms covering their head. That was strange.

“Hey Yellow, you OK? What’s going on?” Cyan asked walking around the railing. Cyan bent down to jostle Yellow. Cyan’s blood went cold as Yellow’s limp body shifted, her arms falling away to reveal that she was missing her head. Cyan fell back in shock. A pool of dried blood had gathered under her body and had slowly dripped into the vent. The body slightly rolled over and Cyan got a look at a large and gruesome gash on the underside of the body. Nausea fell over the crewmate as his heart rate sped up. Cyan was going to be sick, but he pushed that feeling aside and got to his feet quickly. He walked straight towards Purple as they and Blue started to enter the room. Pushing Purple back and into communications Cyan gave them a stern warning to stay put and went back to join Blue with the body.

Blue was frozen, staring at Yellow’s now exposed and mutilated form.

“I found her like that. Sorry, I didn’t want Purple to see.” Cyan said as he stood next to Blue.

“Emergency meeting, now.” Blue said and started to run towards cafeteria. “Bring Purple with you.” Blue yelled over her shoulder to Cyan.

Cyan returned to communications to gather Purple. Purple was about to ask what was happening when the meeting alarm blared.

“Emergency meeting. Everyone report to cafeteria immediately. No exceptions.” Blue’s voice rang out over the intercom system.

The two looked at each other and silently made their way to cafeteria. Cyan noticed how shaky Purple was. _This won’t end well_ Cyan thought to himself.

* * *

Everyone gathered around the main table in cafeteria. Everyone was sitting down except Blue who stood looking slightly nervous.

“Alright, Blue what is this about?” Red asked.

“I don’t really know the best way to say this, but without beating around the bush,” Blue took a deep breath, “Yellow is dead.”

Gasps could be heard from some of the crewmates followed by whispers.

“You can’t be serious. Another accident?” Orange said loudly. “Maybe its for the best. If Yellow wasn’t smart enough to keep herself alive then why do we need to stop our tasks to hear about it?”

“That’s the thing, Orange. This was clearly not an accident. Yellow was murdered.” Blue replied firmly.

Everyone stilled. Silence cut through the room as they all stared at Blue in shock.

“Blue, are you completely sure. That is quite the accusation.” Red said now standing next to Blue.

“Yes, the body is down in shields, beheaded with a large wound in the upper torso.” She replied.

“I also saw the body and agree with Blue.” Cyan spoke up followed by a brief pause as this information sunk in.

“Do you think Pink might have been killed too?” Purple finally whispered, almost as if they were talking to themself.

“So, maybe we have some sort of animal on board?” Green asked looking towards the captain.

“No, the scanners would pick up an animal. I hate to say this, but I believe there is an imposter among us.” Red stated. “I have heard some stories from other captains, but I always thought they were just cautionary tales to keep everyone in line.”

“So, what are you saying? One of us did this?!” Orange barked now standing as well.

“Yes, I believe there is a crewmate who is not what they seem.” Red looked over each crewmate.

Everyone else started to look at each other as well. The air in the room now tense and uncomfortable.

“So, what are our next steps?” Blue asked.

“Wait, weren’t you supposed to be on night duty, Black? That is mighty suspicious. How do we know you didn’t convince Yellow to take your shift so you could,” Orange slid a finger across where his neck would be under his suit.

“Yellow offered to take his shift. Black did not kill Yellow.” Cyan said defensively.

“You are awfully quick to shift blame there Orange and you did mention sabotage earlier, yet you sound like you’re surprised at the thought of an imposter.” Green pointed out.

Orange turned to Green, “You started that! And you have done nothing but accuse me of things too. How do we know its not you, huh Green? Maybe we should toss you out the airlock. Just to be safe.” Orange started walking towards Green.

“Maybe we should throw both of you out. Just to be sure.” Blue retorted back. “Both of you have been causing nothing but trouble this entire trip. You sound like two partners who don’t know how to work together.”

“Oh, that’s rich. Maybe its you miss soon-to-be-captain. How high does this conspiracy go?” Orange said now turning towards Blue.

“Maybe we should all just be thrown out the airlock.” Green sighed.

“That is enough,” Red said firmly, “No one is being thrown out the airlock. Not until we have more information.”

“But captain, we need to protect the safety of the crew. We can’t allow anyone else to get hurt.” Blue pressed.

“No, we have no evidence, and we cannot blindly throw people off the ship. That is how madness comes about. We will do this; I will pair each of you up daily. That way no one is alone. We will lock every bunk room from the inside and outside each night. No more night duty. Everyone stays in their rooms at night and no one is to be alone during the day. Understood? We will all meet in here and I will team you up. You are to stick with your buddy all day until we return to the bunks. Report anything suspicious you see. Am I understood?” 

“Isn’t that against protocol?” Blue asked.

“This is an emergency, as such I am responsible for running the ship how I deem fit. We will not lose ourselves to fear. Does that make sense, Blue?”

Blue nodded her head and went to sit back down.

“Good, one moment and I will pair you up. Stay vigilant and stay safe.”

* * *

Of course Black would be paired with White. Being assigned buddies made it much more difficult to protect Cyan and the others. White was a skilled imposter, Black had no doubt White could easily sneak away from his buddy, kill someone in a different group and reappear with his partner without being noticed. Black was incredibly nervous.

“Pretty good huh? Glad I found out that you weren’t on night duty. Made it so much easier.” White said as the two entered security. White threw himself into a chair and gleefully let it spin him around a few times. “Man, it felt good. You really missed out. Ugh, this is turning into one of my longest missions. Ah well, at least we are getting some creative kills.” White sat back relaxing in the chair. 

“Yea.” Black whispered.

“Anyway, I think we should give it a day. I want to see how their minds end up. Orange and Green were ready to tear each other apart and Blue seems a little trigger happy. I bet we can exploit that. Yea, I’m thinking a good double kill, set it up to seem like those two and get Blue to throw em’ out the air lock, hahaha.”

Black did not respond. He knew he wouldn’t be able to kill again. He would end up betraying White’s orders and end up being killed by White himself if he wasn’t careful. 

“Hey! You listening to me?” White said knocking on Black’s helmet. “You better not screw this up again.” He said in a deep voice right next to Blacks face.

“I won’t.” Black lied and went to watch the cams. He needed a plan. Black started to run through scenarios in his head, but nothing came to mind. There was no way he could think of to save all the crewmates.

Black let out a frustrated grunt. He was angry that he couldn’t think of a way to save the humans.

“What’s wrong with you?” White looked towards his fellow imposter.

“Nothing,” Black mumbled “just frustrated by the botched double.” He lied.

“Don’t worry too much. You’ll get it next time.” White turned his attention back to the cams.

 _There won’t be a next time,_ Black tried to convince himself. 

* * *

Cyan walked aimlessly down the hallway with Purple. On one hand Cyan felt OK with the crewmate. They were so nervous and seemed to be scared by everything. On the other what if it was all just a ruse? Maybe Purple was secretly a murderer, but they still hadn’t stop shaking since the meeting earlier.

“Ok, where to first?” Cyan finally asked, “We could go take care of the trash or start our specimen research. What do you think?”

Purple did not respond, they just kept looking at the ground.

“Purple?” Cyan said nudging them slightly.

Purple gasped and backed away from Cyan. They were breathing heavy but seemed to calm down when they realized that Cyan was not threatening them.

“Oh… sorry, ugh yea… trash?”

Cyan strained to hear them, they were so quiet.

“Ok, lets head that way then.” Cyan started to head for the O2 room.

“Ugh…cy…cy..Cyan… um could we maybe stop by the bathroom real quick? I mean I can go in my room… not like go into the bathroom together.”

 _Ok, now this is getting_ _ridiculous_ Cyan thought as Purple continued to stutter on.

“Yea, we can stop by. I’ll just hang out in your room outside the bathroom, Ok? We can’t be separated too much.” Cyan said now turning towards the bunks.

“Thanks.”

The two made their way to Purple’s bedroom. Cyan was standing outside the bathroom door and looked around. Purple’s room was kept neat, nothing out of place and very clean. The only personal item out in view was a picture frame on the nightstand by the bed. Cyan moved over and picked up the frame. It seemed to be a picture of Purple standing in between two taller humans, probably their parents. Purple of course was not wearing a suit in the picture and Cyan couldn’t help but smile. The young crewmate looked bashful with two parents on either side looking proudly at their child. Purple had short, and somewhat surprisingly purple hair, probably why they chose said color for their suit. Cyan didn’t think Purple would be so outgoing to dye their hair and yet here is a picture showing otherwise.

Cyan’s thoughts were interrupted by a pained gasp coming from the bathroom.

“Purple, are you OK?” Cyan said immediately coming over to the door.

A loud sniff could be heard behind the door and what sounded like urgent shuffling. “Its nothing, I’m fine” Purple said quickly.

Cyan was concerned, now that he thought about it, they did seem to be taking a long time in there.

“Hey, cover up if you’re not decent and I don’t mean to interrupt your privacy, but I’m coming in.” Cyan said as he started to override the lock and open the door.

“Cyan, wait, no!” Purple gasped out, but it was too late. Cyan was already through the door and froze at what he saw. Purple had one of the sleeves of their suit pulled up with small cuts running down the arm. Blood was currently trickling down Purple’s arm and dripping onto the floor. A razor could be seen in Purple’s other hand.

The two just stared at each other for a beat. Purple’s hands now trembling.

“Cyan, I…” Purple started crying. Loud audible sobs racked the crewmate as they fell to their knees.

Cyan rushed over and pulled Purple into a hug.

“Shh.. its going to be OK.” Cyan sat on the ground now rocking Purple back and forth as they sobbed into his shoulder. Any thoughts of Purple being an imposter were now gone.

Once Purple had calmed down Cyan moved the crewmate to sit against the wall. Cyan went and grabbed the emergency kit from below the bathroom sink and brought it over to Purple. Cyan gently grabbed their arm and began to clean and bandage the wounds.

Purple gasped slightly as the disinfectant stung but stayed silent beyond that.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Cyan asked as he bandaged up the arm.

“I’m sorry, I just feel… so guilty. I feel like if Pink and I had stayed together he would still be alive.” Purple sniffed again “And now with Yellow dead… I’m just so nervous… what if I’m next?” Purple whispered. “I’m worried I won’t get to see my parents again. They were so proud of me for going out into space. What if we don’t make it back?” 

“Hey, we’re going to take care of each other. I’ve worked with Red before, they’re a good leader. I trust them to keep us safe.” Cyan said putting the medical supplies away. “I am going to have to tell them about this though… They might not let you be by yourself from now on, even at night. You understand that right?”

“…I do.” Purple said not looking towards Cyan.

“OK, are you good to do the rest of our tasks? Then we can talk to Red after dinner?”

“Ok.” Purple continued to avoid Cyan’s gaze.

Cyan reached down and offered a hand to Purple, which they took. Cyan pulled Purple up and brought them close for a gentle hug. Purple returned the hug and the two left the room to finish the day’s tasks.


	6. It Can Always Get Worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another tag update, this time for non-consensual groping/sexual assault. Nothing too graphic, but the content is still there. Skip after the 2nd line break if you would like to avoid it.

“Ok, so today we have White and Green, Blue and Purple, Orange with Cyan, and finally Black and myself. Does that sound good?” Red asked as they sent out the pairing and everyone’s schedules.

No one objected. The new system was a little strange but overall it was keeping them safe. Cyan was glad to see Purple go with Blue. After talking to Red about what happened, Purple was required to stay within eyesight of at least Red, Blue or Cyan at all times. Once they got back to Polus, Purple would need to get professional help, but for the time being this was the best they could do.

Cyan was slightly disappointed about having to go with Orange, especially after yesterday. No one else besides the three knew about Purple. Even after only knowing Orange for a few days it was clear the man had little to no sympathy for anyone. Unfortunately, Cyan had no real reason not to go with Orange so here they were off to do their tasks.

They were currently in storage, gathering the gasoline for the two engines. The perk of having two crewmates do this meant less trips, unfortunately it also meant going back to upper engine, where Pink died.

For the most part Orange had stayed quiet, that is until they both reached the upper engine.

“Do you think Pink got murdered? Or was it just an accident? The kid didn’t seem that stupid, but you never know.” Orange said as Cyan was putting gas in the machine. Orange leaned slightly over the railing to look down into the engine.

“You really shouldn’t say things like that.” Cyan mumbled from his spot by the fuel tank.

“Why not? It wouldn’t be so taboo if people just had the balls to talk about it. Shouldn’t we be hoping it was just an accident?” Orange asked leaning even further over the rail.

Cyan did not acknowledge the question. Orange was being the typical jerk that he was.

“But what if it was a murder? Could you imagine, someone just grabbing that dude and shoving him face first into the engine. Huh, I think if you look closely you can still see parts of his suit in there. Is that pink or red? I guess we can’t really clean it until we get back. I think it’s a mix of colors, but pink and red are so similar…”

“Stop it, Orange!” Cyan finally snapped. He had finished gassing up the engine and walked away from the crewmate. “You’re sick.” He spat back as he walked down the hall.

“Hey, you can’t just walk off. People might think you killed Pink. You were the one to send him to reactor with Black. Maybe you two are in cahoots?” Orange said as he caught up with Cyan.

Vile names were on the tip of Cyan’s tongue. It would be so easy to call out Orange for the ass he was, but it wouldn’t get their tasks done any faster and would only encourage his behavior. What Cyan really wanted to do was punch him in the face, but that wouldn’t look good either.

Cyan gave a huff and walked faster. This would be a long day.

* * *

Black felt strange, he would be next to the captain of the ship all day. The one person who truly had the power to chuck him out the airlock was right there. Black had not really spoken to Red except to report Pink’s “accident”, but Black’s curiosity was starting to get to him and Red held the highest amount of information on the ship.

“There, that should do it. You done?” Red said as they got off the asteroid turret. Black was still standing by the download port.

“Oh, yea. Sorry, just getting lost in my thoughts.”

“Yea, download is pretty boring. Let’s head over to admin and upload that before we head back to navigation. Sound good?” Red asked already heading back towards cafeteria to go down to admin.

Black followed without saying anything. He had so many questions, ones he thinks Red might know the answers to, but would it make Black look suspicious?

The two entered admin and Black went to the upload port while Red checked on the admin map.

Black finished his upload and looked towards Red who was still observing the map. Taking a deep breath Black threw caution to the wind.

“Hey, Red, can I ask you something? It might seem a little weird, but it has been bugging me.” Black said joining Red at the admin table.

“Sure, what’s up?” they said giving Black their full attention.

“What is… What are... *sigh* is there an important reason for us being out here? I mean we spend so much time on fixing these ships, and now it seems like people are dying because of it… is it really not easier to just build new ships? I…I’ve also never been on any other mission than recovering ships. Where were they headed and what happened to the crew before we got here?” Black knew this was risky to ask. If crewmates already knew this information then he would look incredibly suspicious, but if they didn’t these would be nosy questions which also looked bad. _Why did I do this?_ Black thought.

Red considered Black’s questions for a minute. Black couldn’t tell if the captain was trying to size him up or if they were just thinking of a response. Black could feel his hands start to get sweaty. Oh great, that again. His hands were going to be cracked for sure. 

“Well, that is complicated, and I only know so much. It is really the MIRA higher ups who know the answer. From what I know these Skeld ships were from the war effort. The crewmates back then typically used the escape pods and returned to Polus or MIRA HQ. We are simply recovering the ships. Until recently, these missions were quite safe. I have gone on dozens myself with no trouble. Either this is a new threat, or HQ has been keeping something from us. I can tell it is troubling you. Don’t feel alone, this thought troubles me too. Does that answer your questions?”

Black took a moment to digest what he was told. He probably should have already known where the ships were from, that doesn’t make him look good. Imposters had definitely been at this for a bit… MIRA must be keeping imposter attacks a secret. He knew he dug himself into a hole, but Black kept digging. “Do you know what these ships will be used for after we fix them up?”

“I do not, that also worries me.” Red sighed, “We should head to navigation.”

The two left with no more words passing between them for the rest of the day. 

* * *

The last task. _Its about freaking time_ Cyan thought to himself. Although he just let Orange go on talking all day with no response the other crewmate never seemed to shut up. _Just get through the wires and it’ll all be over._ Cyan tried to keep thinking positively. He had gotten through an entire day with Orange and no one was dead, that was good. Positive thoughts.

Despite being a well-versed crewmate, Orange rather unsurprisingly did pretty much nothing but talk all day. So Cyan redid the wires, despite it being Orange’s task. Did the other crewmates have this much trouble with Orange?

“There, its done.” Cyan slammed the wire panel shut.

Orange just stood there, finally not saying anything. Cyan went to move past the crewmate but was shoved into the furthest corner of electrical, over the vent.

“The hell are you doing?!” Cyan yelled.

Orange just kneed him in the gut, effectively silencing Cyan as he doubled over gasping for breath.

Orange got incredibly close to Cyan effectively pinning him against the wall with his body. One hand was currently pinning both of Cyan’s arms behind his back while Orange’s legs and hips pinned Cyan’s lower body.

Cyan was terrified. Was Orange the traitor? It would make sense. Cyan trembled as Orange pinned him against the wall. This was it, wasn’t it? Cyan was going to die.

“I want to test something,” Orange said as his free hand moved lower, “I don’t like your dumb nice guy act. I believe you’re nothing but a dirty imposter, but I think I have ways of making you show your true self.”

Cyan was confused. What did Orange mean? Panic was still flooding his mind and he couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Suddenly Cyan felt a hand slip into his suit, and down between his legs. When had Orange unzipped his suit and what was he trying to do? Cyan’s thoughts were rushing too fast and he couldn’t comprehend what was happening. 

Orange continued his groping as Cyan continued to shake. Orange’s deep, sick breaths rang through Cyan’s helmet. He knew this wasn’t OK, but Cyan was frozen.

“You can always defend yourself, Cyan,” Orange whispered, “I know it wouldn’t take much from what we’ve seen so far.” His hand continued to move, feeling Cyan’s lower half. “Go on, defend yourself, _imposter_ , I know you can. We all saw what happened to Yellow. Go ahead and gut me.”

After what felt like eternity Orange finally stepped back and let Cyan sink to the floor. “Hmm… guess you’re not an imposter after all, figured someone that strong would at least stand up for themselves, not you apparently. I did take you to be a weak crewmate, glad I was right. Of course if you tell anyone about this I’ll be sure you get thrown out the airlock.” Orange said as he went towards the exit. “You should actually thank me, Cyan. Now we both know neither of us are imposters. If I was one I could have easily killed you just now. Better hurry up, don’t want people to think we’ve been gone for too long.”

Cyan didn’t know what to do. Tears started to form in his eyes. Why did that happen? Cyan used the wall to shakily get up. His hands faltered with his suit’s zipper as he slowly followed Orange to cafeteria. The two entered the room and split off to go to their normal tables.

Cyan was numb. He ignored dinner and walked over to his table, taking a seat next to Black.

“Not eating tonight?” Blue asked from her spot between Purple and Red.

Cyan fought to control his shaking, he was still processing what had happened and knew he looked stiff. “No, stomachache.” He whispered, giving him an excuse to hunch over and not act like himself.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

Everyone seemed to buy Cyan’s lie and eventually went on talking about their days as normal. He forced himself to relax slightly and crack a few jokes, in order not to worry anyone. He also lied about his day to not arise any suspicion. Based on everyone else’s reaction he managed to hide his trauma.

Cyan just didn’t happen to see Black study him the entire time, he noticed Cyan was acting strange and not just from a stomachache. 


	7. Frozen to the Core

Black had a knot in his stomach. First, White had told him the next kill was his or if they had the chance, a double kill. Black knew if he took too long White would get angry, or if he didn’t do the double White would still be angry. Black couldn’t kill again; these crewmates were just too nice and they had no desire to harm Black’s people. After learning what the humans knew, Black decided to do his best to protect them, however impossible that was.

The other thing bugging him was Cyan. The crewmate was so still and quiet at dinner last night. He claimed it was a stomachache, but Black didn’t sense any pain coming from the man. No, it was something more emotional. He wasn’t acting like himself and Black wondered what could have happened to cause such a reaction. Black wanted to pull Cyan close and keep him safe.

Black’s suspicions were confirmed even more as Red listed off today’s groups. Black saw Cyan go rigid as his name was called with Orange’s. Was it something with Orange? Cyan visibly relaxed when Black’s name was also called with the other two.

Red had decided to do 2 groups of three and 1 group of two today. White and Blue were to be grouped up while Purple, Red, and Green went together. Red explained it was to account for most of the tasks being grouped into the same room that day. With more people in the same rooms the faster they would get done. 

Everyone agreed with Red’s plan. Black was just happy he would get to keep an eye on Cyan.

Black felt slightly relieved White wasn’t in a group of three. There was no doubt that he would have gotten a kill in and pin it on the extra crewmate, White was clever like that. Black’s concern now was that White would expect the same of him. Maybe he could just play dumb and say he didn’t realize that would be a good plan… yea that might work.

The three made their way to the reactor. It was in need of some more maintenance, the manifolds needed to be unlocked and the gears needed to be cleaned again.

Black moved to start in on cleaning the machine, but stopped when no one else started moving.

“Well go on Cyan, don’t you normally work on this thing?” Orange said in almost a teasing tone. Cyan looked uncomfortable.

“Yo… you always say you want more experience. I always do it. You should give it a shot.” Cyan said quietly.

“Whatever you say.” Orange laughed as he dropped onto his back and slid under the reactor panel.

Black wanted to ask what was happening, but whatever was going on between the two was probably none of his business. Black went towards the right side of the room to start his cleaning. Cyan also moved that way to work on the manifolds. The manifolds didn’t take Cyan long and he moved close to Black to start helping him clean.

“Wouldn’t it be faster if you started on the other side of the room?” Black whispered to Cyan.

Cyan stiffened again, “Can I please stay near you?” Cyan whispered back even quieter. The crewmate sounded like they were about to cry. Black wanted nothing more than to take Cyan away and hear what happened, but he couldn’t do that.

“Of course.” Black responded as the two continued to work in silence. 

Reactor was taking as long as ever and Cyan didn’t leave Black’s side. Cyan did jump when Orange suddenly moved out from beneath the reactor panel.

“Hey, is it getting…colder to you two?” Orange asked looking at them.

Now that he had brought it up, Black did feel it was getting colder. That was strange.

The ship gave out a loud groan that could be heard by all. Suddenly the temperature dropped significantly.

“What the heck?” Orange said, starting to rub his hands up and down his arms.

The ships emergency alarm blared at them.

“We should head to cafeteria.” Black said as he started leaving the room, Cyan still glued to his side. Orange followed behind.

The other crewmates had the same idea as they all gathered in cafeteria.

“What is going on?” Green asked as she shivered.

“It seems the ships temperature gauge must have gone out.” Blue replied also shaking.

The other crewmates started to discuss the logistics behind the temperature gauge, but White was looking towards Black.

“Hey, dummy, was this you?” White was also shivering, trying to use friction to keep his arms warm now. White was now using their private chat, clearly pissed at the situation. “I know we sabotage the ship, but even we can’t survive frozen temperatures. If you’re trying to kill everyone by freezing them to death, this will take way too long.” 

“Wasn’t me.” Black responded as stoic as ever. Fortunately for Black this cold really didn’t bug him. The colony he was raised in was located in the coldest region of the imposter home world, it was kind of nice to be back in that climate.

“Ugh, so the ship is actually broken. Just perfect.” White said through chattering teeth.

Black returned his attention to the group conversation.

“So that settles it, Blue and one other can go out and fix the gauge. The rest of you, pair up and return to one of your rooms. Do your best to stay warm.” Red said.

“I’ll go with her.” White volunteered, teeth still chattering.

“Thank you, White.” Blue replied. “The rest of you better get some blankets. This might take a bit.”

White and Blue took off for the temperature control while Red took Purple back to their room.

“Hey Cyan, want to…” Orange started to address the other crewmate.

Cyan froze again and grabbed at Black’s sleeve, his grip was tight.

Black was confused by the gesture but seemed to get the message. “Actually, Cyan and I decided to go together. Sorry.” Black said as he led Cyan away. Maybe now Black could learn what was going on.

“Oh, great. Stuck with this one.” Orange said looking towards Green.

Black heard the two start arguing but didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as he continued to lead Cyan down the hallway towards the bunks. Should he take Cyan back to his room or would that make it weird? Cyan still had Black’s sleeve in a death grip and Cyan’s room was closer so he decided to go there.

The door slid open and Black walked in. Cyan slowly let go of his sleeve and took off his helmet.

The crewmate looked terrible. Deep bags were under Cyan’s red puffy eyes. He had definitely been crying.

Black was about to ask but noticed Cyan was now shaking too. He was unsure if it was from his emotions or from the cold.

Cyan seemed to come back to reality slightly and climbed onto his bed. He was now sitting against the wall with the comforter around his shoulders.

“You coming?” He asked quietly holding out part of the blanket towards Black.

Black moved to sit next to Cyan. Both now wrapped in the comforter. Black was still doing fine with the dropping temperature, but he hoped the blanket and their shared heat was helping Cyan.

The two sat in silence for what felt like hours. Cyan was still shaking and Black didn’t know what to do.

“Feeling any warmer?” Black asked.

“Slightly.”

Black hesitated. He didn’t want to impose on the crewmate, but he just seemed so run down. Something was bugging him, he knew it, just like with Red, Black needed to pull the trigger and ask.

“Hey, what’s going on? You haven’t been acting like yourself and I… I’m worried about you.” Black said surprised that he would admit to being worried about a human.

Cyan was starting at the ground, Black could see their eyes begin to fill with tears.

Cyan took a breath and looked like he was about to begin speaking but his chin started to tremble violently. The tears finally broke free and started to stream down Cyan’s face. The man shook as sobs began to wrack the poor crewmate’s body.

Black was completely out of his element. No one from his home cried or really showed any true emotions, therefore he had no idea what to do in this case, all he could do was what came naturally.

Black brought Cyan close to him and set him in his lap. Cyan’s face was now buried into Black’s neck. Cyan grabbed onto Black and continued to sob. Black just wrapped the blanket tighter around them and started to rub Cyan’s back with his free hand, hoping it was helping.

Black stayed like that until Cyan’s sobs died down to sniffles. Cyan removed himself from Blacks neck by keeping his head on the other’s shoulder but moving his head to face towards his room.

“Sorry, it’s been a rough few days.” Cyan croaked while also trying to get a laugh out. It sounded painful.

“I’m sorry,” Black whispered, hand still slowly going up and down Cyan’s back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

More tears sprung to Cyan’s eyes. Yes, he desperately did want to talk about it, if only his emotions would let him.

Cyan turned back to continue crying into Black’s shoulder. Black didn’t say anything, he just let the smaller man come to terms with his feelings.

A few minutes later Cyan was able to take a deep breath and began telling Black everything. From his feelings about Pink and Yellow, to finding Purple hurting themself, and eventually the event with Orange. That was the hardest to talk about. Cyan started to cry again but was able to tell Black the story in between his sobs. Black was shocked, just when he started to think humans were good beings, one of them does something that horrible to their fellow crewmate. Black tightened his grip on Cyan in what he meant as a protective hold. How dare Orange lay his hands on Cyan in such a way. Black hadn’t felt his killer instinct for a few days now, but it was back with a vengeance.

Cyan finished up his story, now fully sobbing into Black’s chest.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Black asked as Cyan started to quiet down again.

“Stay with me?” Cyan whispered “I don’t know why, but you make me feel safe, Black. Sorry if that’s weird.”

“No, would it be weird if I said I kinda felt the same?”

That got a slight chuckle out of Cyan.

“Really? You tower over everyone on this ship and I make you feel safe?”

“Well, you know more about fixing the ship than I do. That makes me feel safe, knowing I have capable teammates.”

Cyan finally smiled a genuine smile “Thank you, Black.”

The two sat like that for a moment before Cyan spoke up again, “Hey, would it be weird if we lay down? I’m starting to get a crying headache.”

“If its OK with you.”

Cyan wiggled out of Blacks grip and guided him down onto the bed next to him. Black was on his back while Cyan moved so he was on his side with his head on Black’s chest again. Cyan pulled the blanket back over the both of them. 

“Is this alright?” Cyan asked as he moved to grab Black’s hand.

“Yes, are you warm enough?”

“Yea, actually. I guess I was crying so much I stopped thinking abut the cold. It seems to be warm enough under the blanket now though.”

Black figured it must be him partially. His species did give off slightly more body heat than the humans. He was not sure how much the suit was doing to trap that heat but as long as Cyan was comfortable that’s all that mattered.

“You can take your helmet off you know.” Cyan said looking towards Black.

Black was the one to tense this time. His face would completely blow his cover. His species could partially shapeshift, but faces were difficult. His wide grin, sharp teeth, red eyes, and strange ears would surely tip Cyan off. The most he could do was shift his face enough to fit inside the round helmet, anything more would be pushing it.

“You don’t have too if you’re not comfortable. I just wanted you to know.” Cyan said laying his head back down and closing his eyes.

Black did not want Cyan to feel bad. _Part of the truth won’t hurt right?_ Black thought. 

“I promise its not you. I just… have some really bad scarring on my face… I don’t like to think about it, or really show it to others. It just brings up bad memories.” Black said as those bad memories happened to make their way to front of his mind.

“Black, I’m sorry.” Cyan said as he gripped onto Black even tighter. Here Cyan was, now helping Black when Black still needed to help Cyan. This crewmate really was something.

Black returned the grip and also held on tighter. The two stayed like that until they both dozed off into a peaceful rest.

* * *

Black was the first to wake a couple hours later. Cyan was still snuggled up next to his side. Black stared contently down at the crewmate. He wasn’t really sure what he was feeling. He knew he liked Cyan, but he also liked most of the other crewmates as well, yet he felt strangely drawn to this particular man. Black wished he could ask Cyan what it all meant, but questions like that might blow his cover. Black just tried to enjoy the moment. Without thinking, he moved his free hand to Cyan’s hair.

Cyan stirred and looked up towards Black. He looked much more relaxed now.

“Hey there.” Cyan said sleepily with a small yawn.

“Hi, feeling better?” Black asked quietly.

“Yea, this really helped. Thank you Black, you’re the best.” Cyan gave Black another squeeze from their position on the bed. Black couldn’t help but return it.

“Any time.”

The alarm went off across the ship, Blue’s voice followed, “Attention. Everyone should return to the cafeteria in 20 minutes. The heating has been fixed, but it will still take a bit to return to normal.”

“20 minutes huh? Need to do anything before then? You can use my shower if you would like.” Cyan said not getting up from his position next to Black. “Or… we could just stay here… only if you want.”

That made Black smile. For some reason seeing Cyan become nervous because of him was heartwarming.

Black just held onto Cyan a little tighter. “Staying here would be nice.”

Cyan smiled as he snuggled back into Black’s chest. For the first time in days the two were completely relaxed.

* * *

20 minutes went by too fast. Black and Cyan untangled themselves from the bed and rejoined the group, Cyan still sticking close to Black. The meeting was short as Red dismissed everyone for the day. They were to take food back to their rooms and stay there until tomorrow morning.

Of course, these rules did not apply to the imposters. White once again appeared in Black’s room via the ventilation system. White fully entered Black’s room this time and settled himself on a chair as Black sat on his bed.

“Well that was an unexpected hiccup, but I think we are in a good position to make a plan. Blue is definitely ready to toss someone into the abyss so if we can pull off a kill where no one is clear, I think we could finish this in the next day or two.” White explained, “Here’s my idea. Hopefully Red will pair us up like they did today, then we cut the lights. My thinking is that everyone will go to electrical to fix it. When the lights are off, we each take one. Make sure it isn’t Blue, Orange, or Green. They are so close to breaking that two kills will have them at each other’s throats.” White continued with a wicked smile on his face.

“You sure we shouldn’t wait? I think their minds are breaking. Purple tried to kill themselves a couple days ago.” Black said without really thinking about what that meant. “Maybe we could break all of them down like that.”

“You don’t say… that’s amazing.” White’s smile continued to grow. “Could you imagine, an entire crew taken down by suicides. What a way to complete a mission.”

Black felt a splash of hope that White would be drawn to the plan, it would buy him some time.

White continued with his thoughts, “Maybe some time, but not this time. But if you’re right, I bet a double kill would really send them off the deep end. OK, alter the plan. We leave Purple alive as well. Hopefully, they’ll break and kill themselves, leaving Orange, Blue, or Green. One of them gets tossed and then it’s just a double kill to win the day.” White said smiling at Black. “One more mission in the books.”

Black realized what he had done. By removing Purple from the pool that only left Red and Cyan as targets for the blackout kill. He needed a plan and fast.


	8. Lights Out

Red placed everyone in the same groups the following day. They said it was in order to finish up the tasks that were left incomplete due to the temperature malfunction. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Black was hoping against. Cyan and Red were in danger and Black needed a way to save them, but he had no ideas.

It also did not help that Black was stuck with Orange. It was even more clear now how uncomfortable Cyan felt around him. Black hated seeing Cyan flinch or tense whenever Orange came too close or even spoke to him.

Orange kept making snide remarks as they did their tasks. Clearly just trying to make Cyan uncomfortable.

Maybe he could just off Orange and say it was an accident. Would that work? But what if White killed Cyan… Black was again at war with himself. He wanted to make Orange suffer but needed to protect the crewmates. While cleaning the reactor Black was fantasizing about holding Orange over the engine and slowly feeding the man into it. A fate the crewmate deserved, but one Black would not get away with.

Eventually the three of them finished up their tasks in reactor and made their way to Med Bay to work on the specimen samples. The three of them were walking down the hallway coming from upper engine. Cyan walked closely beside Black with Orange following behind.

“So, you two get nice and cozy yesterday?” Orange teased in that gross voice of his. “You know, Black, I do like to think I know what Cyan likes, just from a bit of past experience, if you catch what I mean.”

Black heard a faint whimper from Cyan as he pressed against Black. Black had enough of Orange’s BS.

Black spun suddenly, his fist flying over Orange’s helmet. A resounding BANG resonated through the hallway. The noise was louder than one a human could produce, but Black wanted to be as threatening as possible. Cyan gasped and backed away from the two.

Black leaned down to get right into Orange’s face, the man now frozen from Black’s sudden show of violence.

“Enough.” Black growled in a voice that was almost inhuman. “You know, crewmates who keep their mouths shut usually live longer.”

Black turned again and entered med bay. Cyan took a quick glance over at Orange, who was stilled from shock. Cyan followed Black into med bay and went to stand by the specimen chamber. Orange stood in the hallway for a moment, now wary of the taller man. Once his senses came back to him, Orange floated by the door while Black worked on the specimens with Cyan. Nothing was said between the three.

Black was just about to finish up with the specimens when the lights suddenly cut. Cyan jumped as did Orange. Black could still see in the dark, but his heart started pounding. What was he going to do?

“What should we do?” Cyan asked next to him.

*Sigh* “We had better get to electrical.” Orange mumbled as he slowly felt his way out of the room.

Cyan slowly went to follow, trying not to run into any of the beds in the room. Black suddenly grabbed onto Cyan’s hand tightly.

“Stay near me.” Black said quickly. Cyan responded by squeezing Black’s hand.

The group made their way slowly to electrical. Orange just ahead of Black and Cyan.

“OOHPH.” Orange sounded as he hit the ground.

“Orange, you alright?” Red’s voice came from just in front of them. Orange and Red had collided while both groups were trying to navigate their way through storage.

“Just fine. Let’s get these damned lights on.” Orange said picking himself up.

_Great, everyone is here except Blue and White. Where were they?_ Black thought as the group of now 6 continued to move at a modest pace. They eventually made their way to electrical. Red moved to the panel with Green standing behind the captain. Black positioned himself on the left side of the entrance, Cyan protectively placed between himself and the wall.

Blue and White eventually made their appearance as Red continued to work. Everyone spread out around him near the doorway to electrical. _This must be perfect in White’s mind,_ Black thought. Cyan was right next to Black, Purple was still in the hallway, everyone else was spread about. White was able to get close to Red’s right side, pretending to help with the lights.

Orange was also near the panel, just in front of Black and Cyan, on Red’s left side. This would set Orange up as a potential killer perfectly.

This was it, Black had to choose what to do. Did he kill Orange? Or choose to do nothing.

White tipped his helmet towards Black in a knowing nod and began to move. The crewmates couldn’t see it, but Black had a perfect view.

White’s knife was poised to strike. Perfectly on track to slice into Red’s body. Black’s hands began to shake. What was he supposed to do? Time seemed to slow down as White went for the kill. There was no way he could save Red now. There was no way to save Red, that is until Green suddenly shoved herself between the two. White would have stopped, but it was too late. Black saw the mistake and was too shocked to move, at least that’s what he told himself.

Purple screamed from the hallway as the lights returned. Green was now lying on the ground in a pool of blood. A large hole in her abdomen. Blood started to gather around the crewmates’ feet as panic set in. White just looked silently at Black as Orange and Blue began yelling accusations at everyone. 

“Cafeteria, now!” Red yelled as they began to physically shove the crewmates out of the room.

* * *

The tension was thick as everyone was seated around the main table. Black sat next to Cyan with White’s glare burning into him from his other side. Next to White was Blue followed by Red then Purple and finally Orange.

“Ok, did anyone see anything?” Red said, trying to stay calm.

“I don’t know Red; _did you_ see anything?” Blue stated sarcastically. “You were standing right next to Green when the lights came on. This had to have been you.”

“Blue, how could you think that?” Red said clearly hurt.

“Oh, don’t play the victim. Who else would it be?”

“You know, I think it’s Black.” Orange started to say, “Think about it, he was the one with Pink when he died, then Yellow died taking his night shift, he threatened me in the hallway just before the lights went off! Cyan saw it! He’s a monster. I bet he killed Green just now too. Being quiet all the time, just silently gathering information about us as he picks us off!” Orange exclaimed now pointing at Black.

Cyan grabbed for Black’s hand under the table, now fearful for what might happen. Black gave a reassuring squeeze.

“You know that does make sense.” Blue mumbled now reconsidering.

“And what defense do you have for yourself, Orange? You and Green never did get along. You do have the motivation to dispose of Green.” Red stated calmly now turning the table on Orange.

“You can’t be serious? If I wanted Green dead she would have been dead before we even got here. It. Wasn’t. Me.” Orange stated.

“We can’t keep doing this, Red. We need to get rid of someone now. No more murder, one was already too many, three is unacceptable for nothing to be done.” Blue stated now standing up. She started pacing slightly behind Red.

“We need to stay calm, Blue…”

“How come you get to keep saying what we do? We keep waiting, but people keep dying. We are our own people. I vote we all get a say.” Orange said now standing as well.

Red considered Orange for a moment. “Fine, you want a vote, lets hold a vote then.”

The crewmates were surprised to see a panel appear on the screen in their helmets.

“You should all see a voting app appear in your helmets. You will be able to cast a vote. If you think a fellow crewmate is an imposter, vote for them and we will proceed from there. You can also skip if you wish. Majority rule.” Red explained. “Votes are anonymous as well.” 

Black was concerned, Orange had put his head on the chopping block. He was for sure getting a vote from him, but what about White? Would he vote for Black because of the botched double kill? For the first time, Black was suddenly afraid of the airlock waiting just down the hallway.

Black cast his vote and waited. There was a small timer at the bottom of the screening showing how much time was left. Black was sure it was the slowest clock in existence. 

It felt like eternity as Black watched the timer count down, his heart rate picking up with each passing second. Cyan’s scent was also not helping, the crewmate was reeking of anxiety and it was rubbing off on Black.

Finally, the clock hit zero and the votes came in. Cyan’s grip tightened on Black’s hand as they processed the results.

2 votes for Orange, 2 votes for Black, and 2 votes to skip. Someone hadn’t voted. Black was one vote away from being suffocated by the endless void of space.

Orange let out a huff, clearly pissed with the results.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Blue said also angry.

“Rules are rules, Blue,” Red started “Everyone please return to your rooms. Tomorrow, the group of three may remain and rest of us will pair up. Please stay safe.”

No one moved for a few minutes, everyone still absorbing what happened.

“Screw this.” Orange grumbled, stomping out of the room. Black gave Cyan’s hand one last squeeze before getting up with the other crewmates and heading towards the bunks.

* * *

“What the hell, Black?!” White’s voice shrieked over their private chat. Black was laying on his bed trying to calm his racing heart when White’s voice startled him. “That was a perfect set up, and you didn’t kill anyone! Cyan was RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!”

“I panicked, OK!” Black yelled back, raising his voice to an imposter for the first time ever. “I saw Green get in the way of your kill and the lights were about to turn back on! You killed the wrong person and it messed me up!” Black tried to pin the blame on White. He doubted it would work, but he had no other excuse.

“You’re trying to put this on me?! You’ve got a lot of nerve.” White growled. “You’re damn well lucky there’s still too many crew members, or I would have voted you off myself.”

Black shivered at the thought. He had already come so close to that.

“Tomorrow, someone had better be dead or it’ll be you flying out the airlock, IN PIECES! Do you understand? No more excuses!” White snarled across the voice chat before cutting the connection.

Black removed his helmet, trying to focus on calming his breathing. This mission had become a nightmare.

Try as he might, Black couldn’t sleep that night. His heart wouldn’t stop pounding and his mind kept racing. He went over scenario after scenario on how to save the crewmates and himself, but he couldn’t think of anything. He could just attack White, but Black wasn’t 100% sure he could take him on in a fight, not without help anyway. Even if he did off White the crewmates were bound to throw Black out the airlock for being an imposter anyway. Black was also close to being killed by White now too, he had messed up too many times and was walking a thin line. 

Black groaned as he hid his head under his pillow. His brain hurt and to make matters worse there was still the Orange situation to deal with. He would have to be with that ass tomorrow again. At least he could be there to protect Cyan. As much as he wanted to make Orange suffer that would just bring too much attention to Cyan and himself. He wouldn’t put a target on Cyan. 

Black sighed as he fought to fall asleep, his mind still struggling to figure out a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done! Just a heads up that the next couple chapters might be a little late. I know where I want to go with this, but I just don't know how I want to get there. Just know I am still working on this even if it takes a little longer than normal! Hope you all are doing well and enjoying the story :)


	9. Who We Really Are

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another warning for non-consensual groping again. Nothing graphic, but it is still mentioned. To skip, read until the first line break then scroll until you see the word CRACK in the middle of the page.

Morning came all too quickly. Black was exhausted from his restless night and Cyan didn’t look to be faring much better. Cyan continued to chain himself to Black and he would often brush up against the taller man, not that Black minded but he hated seeing Cyan so tense.

Once again, Black found himself walking towards reactor with Cyan and Orange. The air between the three was tense as they made their way through the halls. Orange claimed to have done a poor job with fixing it up so now the three had to go back and do it all over again.

Orange was acting incredibly strange. He was fidgety and mostly quiet but also seemed to be mad at Cyan and Black for some reason. Black could hear him grumbling under his breath but couldn’t quite make out what was being said. _What an asshole,_ Black thought as the three walked, _he has nothing to be mad about._

They finally reached the entrance to reactor. Cyan was the first to enter just in front of Black. Orange picked up speed to place himself in front of Black, but then he suddenly stopped, causing Black to bump into him.

“Ugh, what’s your problem?” Black growled at Orange. Orange spun quickly, kicking Black in the stomach. Black stumbled backwards out of reactor, the doors making a loud bang as they slammed in his face.

“Hey! The hell Orange?!” Black pounded his fists on the doors. He tried prying them open, but even he couldn’t force the doors with his strength. Black slammed on the door once again when he heard a faint whimper come from inside the room. Cyan was in trouble.

Black gave a grunt of annoyance as his heart rate picked up, he needed to save Cyan. Black looked around, trying to think of a plan. He needed to get inside the locked room, a nearly impossible task for a crewmate, but for him… Black ran for the upper engine. The vent there connected to the one in reactor. Seeing no one on his way he bolted for the vent. Tearing the cover off Black threw it into the corner of the room as he jumped inside, his body easily shifting to fit the small space. Adrenaline rushed through him as he maneuvered through the dark tunnel. Cyan just needed to hold on for a bit longer.

* * *

Before Cyan could comprehend what happened, he was suddenly separated from Black by the thick reactor doors. He was now alone with Orange once again.

Orange stood menacingly in front of Cyan, slowly walking towards him.

“You bastard,” Orange growled.

Cyan moved back with every step Orange took forward. Eventually Cyan’s back hit the left wall of reactor.

“I know you and Black voted for me. Bet you told him all about what happened and now you two are trying to off me. Well, I gave you a fair warning and it looks like you need a lesson on obedience.”

Orange swiftly reached Cyan and fully shoved him up against the wall, similar to how he had been just days ago. Cyan shook again, fear taking over his senses. He could hear Black pounding on the door outside, but Cyan knew there was nothing he could do.

Cyan whimpered as Orange’s grip became painful on his wrists. Orange began to move his hand how he did days ago, but this time there was much more force behind his movements. Cyan’s mind went blank, he didn’t want to remember what was about to happen.

As Orange continued his movements, the two paid no attention to their surroundings, the sound of the vent opening behind them fell on deaf ears. Black’s footsteps were swift and silent as he came up behind Orange. Cyan finally noticed Black as he towered over the two of them. Cyan looked up in shock, how did Black manage to get in here?

_CRACK_

The back of Orange’s helmet was now facing Cyan, but the other’s hands were still attached to him. It took a moment for Cyan to decipher what he was looking at.

Orange’s weight was suddenly removed as Black flung the other man across the room where he landed like a rag doll onto the ground. The body skidded slightly and came to a stop just behind the reactor panel. All that could be seen were Orange’s boots and part of his legs.

Cyan slid to the ground shakily as the last few minutes caught up to him. It all happened so fast. Orange was about to hurt him, but Black somehow managed to get into the room and he… completely spun Orange’s head around. The man’s head turned a full 180 degrees and Black had managed to toss the limp body to the other side of the room like it was nothing… that wasn’t… human…

“Cyan, are you okay?” Black said kneeling next to him. Black’s hand came to rest on Cyan’s shoulder.

Cyan flinched slightly at the contact but let the hand stay. 

Hands trembling, Cyan reached up to pull off his helmet. He looked at Black and hoped he was meeting his eyes behind the other’s helmet.

“How did you do that?” Cyan whispered, he wanted to believe Black was human, he desperately hoped Black was just a super strong dude, but his mind knew better. “Black, are you…” Cyan couldn’t finish the thought. He just stared at Black, his eyes hopeful but sad at the same time.

Black met Cyan’s gaze through his visor. There was no way to reasonably explain this as a human. Black let out a sigh and moved to sit next to Cyan against the wall.

Black reached up, there was a hiss as the pressure was released from his suit. Black removed his helmet and let his face shape back to normal. Cyan looked at Black in horror. Two pointed ears stuck up from the top of his head, the sclera of his eyes were red with cream colored irises and sharp black pupils in the middle. His jaw was large with what seemed to be a huge alligator like mouth, except there was raised skin along where part of Black’s lips were. It seemed to be scarring along the long mouth.

Black looked at the ground as Cyan took in his face, he moved the helmet back and forth between his hands nervously.

Cyan didn’t say anything. This entire time Black had been an imposter, but he seemed so nice. He had helped Cyan so much, how could someone so nice be so cruel?

“Cyan, I’m sorry you had to find out this way. I couldn’t just sit back and let Orange hurt you.”

Black looked over and met Cyan’s eyes. Cyan seemed to be at war with himself, his eyes shifting between hurt, anger, confusion, and sadness.

“Explain.” He finally whispered not breaking eye contact with Black.

Black sighed, “heh, where to even start.” He gave what must have been a sad smile, his scarred lips moving upward in a strange fashion. “Well, I guess I’m what you refer to as an imposter. Although I suppose a more accurate term for you would just be alien. I come from a planet not too far from here. My species has been sneaking on board these ships for a while now. We are tasked with killing all the humans who come to repair the ships. We were told the humans are trying to fix these ships so they could come and destroy our homes. We were told of old wars between us and the humans, so we have been ordered to stop them before they reach us.”

Black paused, but Cyan continued to look at him, silently listening to Black’s story. Cyan wore a look of confusion but did not interrupt to ask questions. 

“For the longest time I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was helping protect my people. I was always taught that humans were cruel and that you didn’t care about anything, even each other. I figured the universe would be better off without humans… but… then I met you.” Black said his eyes filling with emotion for Cyan.

“You were so kind, not just to me, but to everyone else. This crew changed how I see humans. And then I learned more about why you are out here. My superiors lied to me… to all the imposters. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just… want to be with you.” Black mumbled the last part.

Cyan gave no indication to what he was thinking. He continued to meet Black’s eyes with the same conflicted look.

“But you killed all those people? All my crewmates. Even after getting to know them?”

Black broke his gaze from Cyan, his face contorted with sadness and guilt.

“No… well yes, just Pink.” He whispered, “I feel terrible about it. I never should have killed him. I’m so sorry.” Liquid formed in the corner of Black’s eyes. Squeezing his eyes tight, tears rolled down his cheeks as his jaw began to quiver.

Cyan continued to take in Black’s reaction, but still gave no hint at what he was feeling.

“If you only killed Pink… how did the others…”

Black gave a sniff, “There’s two of us on here, White killed everyone else. I did my best to stop him, but…”

Black brough his knees up to his chest and buried his head into his legs. Cyan looked forward, contemplating everything he had been told.

Minutes went by as Cyan thought about what to do. Looking back over to Black he couldn’t help but fixate on the mouth scars. They were jagged and seemed crudely made. Cyan noticed the skin around Black’s mouth and jaw moved strangely as he talked. It was so unnatural looking, almost like it should be painful. Taking off his glove, Cyan reached over slowly, he gently ran a finger over one of the long scars.

Black flinched back violently, Cyan paused his hand. Black looked over at him slightly but moved his face back to let Cyan continue to touch his face.

“Is this normal for your kind?”

Black’s frown became even deeper. “No, a mission of mine went wrong once. My teammate had been caught and thrown out the airlock. Before being thrown out he ratted me out to the crew. Instead of pushing me out next they decided to take me prisoner. There were enough of them left, they managed to strap me down to a bed in med bay and….” His face scrunched in pain, “decided to sear my mouth closed. They were only able to get this far on both sides before I was finally able to escape. Normally my mouth should open much wider, but… the wounds are deep.”

Cyan placed a gentle hand over Black’s cheek. He leaned into it, his eyes closing. He had never known a touch so gentle before.

“I can see why you hate humans, not all of us are so nice.”

“I don’t hate humans; I just didn’t understand before.”

“Hmm, well I wouldn’t blame you if you did.” Cyan moved his hand away. “So, what do we do now? We need to take care of White right?” Cyan was now looking fully at Black with determination in his eyes.

Black’s ears perked up in surprise. “You… want to help me? I figured you’d want me thrown out into space. I killed Pink.”

“Yea, I mean that makes me sad, but… I don’t think either of us are really the same people as when we first got here.”

“So, you want to help with White?”

Cyan nodded.

“We will need to be careful. White is already mad that I haven’t killed anyone since… well… and I’m not sure I can take him on alone. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt either.”

“Let me know what you need me to do.” Cyan reached over and gave Black’s hand a good squeeze. Small smiles graced both of their faces.

“We should probably take care of that first.” Black nodded towards Orange’s body. “I think it would be best to hide it in the vents, that way no one will find it. At least then if White happens across it it’ll make me look somewhat better.”

“So that’s how you got in here, you can fit in the vents?”

“Yes, my species can shape shift slightly.”

“Huh, that is so cool.”

Black gave Cyan a smile as he went over and moved Orange’s body into the vent. That should buy them some time at least. Black frowned though once he thought it through.

“What do we tell the others? Orange was supposed to be with us. This doesn’t make us look very good.”

“If we leave now we might be able to make a convincing story.”

* * *

Black and Cyan walked down towards lower engine, looking for either of the other groups.

“So, did you choose to come on these missions or do your people just assign you to them?” Cyan asked as they walked side by side.

“We are all assigned a purpose at birth. My overall designation is as a soldier, but within that I was able to choose stealth missions like these. If a proper war did break out, I would be brought back to be on the front lines.”

“Hmm… that seems scary. You got no say at all?”

“No, my kind believe each person has a singular purpose. Occasionally some do change designations, but that is extremely rare. When we are born, we are sent away to a colony where we are trained with others who perform the same task.”

“Man, so war and fighting were really drilled into you, huh?”

“Yes… I hear someone ahead.” Black said picking up speed towards the voices.

The two were now jogging when they spotted Purple and Red in storage.

“Hey, have you two seen Orange?” Cyan asked as he and Black reached the others, “He got all pissy at us and ran off. We’ve been trying to find him.”

“Orange left your group?” Red asked.

“Yea, we tried to make him stay, but he managed to lose us.”

“Of course,” Red muttered “I’ll call an emergency meeting. Orange had better show up. All of you, let’s go.” 

The four of them wasted no time getting to cafeteria. Red hit the emergency button. The ship sounded and the emergency lights started to flash.

Blue and White appeared from weapons quickly.

“What’s going on?” Blue asked as she and White joined the others around the table. “Wait…where’s Orange?”

“That’s just the thing. He ran off from his group. We’re seeing if he shows up.” Red replied.

White’s helmet moved in Black’s direction. Black looked back with a slight nod. He knew White would know, hopefully that would buy him just a little time.

“Wasn’t he supposed to be with you two?” Blue asked.

“Yea, but he ran off all pissed that people had voted for him.” Cyan replied.

“That’s….strange” Blue said slowly looking at Cyan and Black. “Where were you exactly?”

“Reactor. We were doing our tasks and he ran off from there. Black and I went looking for him and ran into Red and Purple.” Cyan lied smoothly.

“So, if we all go to reactor, we won’t find anything out of place?” Blue questioned.

“Just unfinished reactor maintenance.”

“Hmph, well I think we should still go check. Red?” Blue now looked towards the captain.

“I guess we can do that, but we are all sticking together.” Red said crossing their arms.

The group started to move towards reactor. Blue was in the lead looking over every nook as they walked through the halls.

Although Cyan spoke with confidence Black noticed his hands becoming more fidgety the closer they got to reactor.

“Nicely done.” White spoke softly through Black’s helmet. Black felt a shiver go up his spine.

The group finally rounded the corner into reactor where they found… nothing. Blue gave out a disappointed puff, but continued her search. She began to look under every panel in the room as the rest of the crewmates watched.

“Blue, there is nothing here. Nothing seems out of place.” Red said.

“No… there has to be something.” Blue continued her search.

“Maybe we should head back to the cafeteria and see if Orange is there?” Purple whispered.

“No!” Blue barked now turning towards the crew. “Orange is dead. There is no other explanation. You two were the last ones with him.” Blue pointed at Black and Cyan. “I think we all know what we need to do.”

“Blue, calm down. You’re being irrational.” Red stepped forward.

“I’m being irrational!? Four people are now dead, and you haven’t done a single thing about it! You’re suppose to be the so called “captain”, but all I see here is a traitor.” She seethed. Blue’s fists were shaking by her side. “I bet you’re one of them… you have to be.” She whispered.

“Blue, think about this. We have very little evidence to go off of. How would you feel if you hurt a fellow crewmate by mistake?”

Blue paused for a moment looking at the ground. Her helmet then shot up looking at Red.

“Like I’ve actually done something!” She yelled as she flung her fist at Red.

Blue’s fist connected with Red’s helmet, causing it to become unlatched from their suit. The helmet flew from Red’s head as the crewmate’s face was now exposed.

“Blue! Think about what you are doing!” Red shouted, blocking more hits from Blue.

“I’m actually trying to protect this crew! What are you doing?!” Blue continued her onslaught of punches as Red backed down the hall towards cafeteria.

Purple looked like they were going to try to interject, but White placed a hand on their shoulder. “Just let them duke it out. It’ll be ok.” He said calmly.

Black made sure to block the view from White, but reached for Cyan’s hand, hoping to provide some reassurance.

Cyan gave Black’s hand a squeeze before stepping away. “We should at least follow them, just in case.” He said looking quickly at White and Purple.

Cyan left the room first, pulling Purple along with him. Black saw the maneuver and sent Cyan a silent thank you for getting Purple away from White.

Black and White trailed not too far behind the others.

“Well, this took a turn, I’m surprised Blue openly attacked Red.” White whispered to Black.

“Yea, me too.” Black breathed.

“I’m excited to see where this goes. Nice job.” White picked up speed to catch up with the others. Black matched his pace, step for step.

Blue and Red had made their way back into cafeteria where they were currently locked in a fight near the air lock.

“You coward! Why won’t you do something! Fight me or stand up for your crew!” Blue continued to swing at Red.

Red continued to be on the defensive, blocking Blue’s attacks without fighting back themself.

With a frustrated yell Blue ripped off her helmet and slammed the glass onto Red’s head. Stunned, Red stumbled backwards. Blue took her opportunity and launched herself at Red. Red’s back slammed into the wall.

Red gave a grunt as the air lock hatch leaver dug into their back. The first door to the airlock hissed as it opened next to them. Blue gave no notice as she continued to pin Red against the wall, trying to punch them in the face. 

The rest of the crew had followed into the cafeteria. Purple and Cyan currently stood as far away from the fighting crewmates as they could. Cyan had a protective arm around Purple’s shoulders as they lingered near the hallway to storage, Cyan ready to run if the need arose.

White made his way closer to the fighting. Seeing that they were near the airlock, White thought of a plan. Black followed on his heels as the two stood by the airlock release. Black could see the gears turning in White’s head, this wasn’t good.

Blue continued her onslaught, both verbally and physically beating Red. Red, realizing this was going nowhere, gave Blue a slight shove with their knees to knock her back a bit.

Seeing his opportunity White hit the airlock button. The result was instantaneous, the outside airlock door opened, and Blue was sucked out of the ship within the blink of an eye. Black’s reflexes were quick as he re-hit the button after White, but he wasn’t fast enough to save Blue.

Everyone was knocked off balance with the sudden pressure change, but luckily no one else was thrown into space.

Black looked over to Red, shouldn’t they also be out in space?

Red was thrown partially into the airlock room, but part of their suit had gotten caught around the lever, saving them from being thrown into space.

Black looked out the window, Blue’s figure could be seen floating past the ship as it traveled deeper into space.

Purple gave a gasp as they also saw the body. Normally their suits would provide some protection from space, but without her helmet, Blue was dead.

Black could feel the giddiness radiating from White. The imposter seemed to be standing taller now that there was one less crewmate on board.

Black walked over to Red, helping the captain untangle from the switch.

“Are you okay?” Black asked quietly.

“Ugh, yes. Some bruises, maybe a shoulder injury, but I’ll be okay.” Red stated, still in shock from what occurred.

“What, just happened?” Cyan asked also stunned.

“I’m not sure, I think she must have hit the emergency switch over there.” White stated, having swiftly moved away from the other button before anyone could notice.

“Did she?” Red questioned.

Black decided to play along, just to buy himself more time with White. “I think I saw her do it too. I’m not sure how else the airlock would have opened.”

Red gave a nod and moved towards the middle table as everyone else gathered there.

“So, what do we do now?” Purple asked.

“We stick together. No one goes by themselves. No more splitting up. We stay together. We will get the ship running enough to get back to Polus and then deal with it.” Red made eye contact with every crewmate, their eyes burning with passion. “I will not lose another human on this mission. Do I make myself clear?”

The remaining crew nodded in agreement.

“Good, we’ll take a rest before getting back to work. No one is to leave this room.” Red stated sinking into one of the cafeteria seats.

Cyan and Purple walked over to the wall to get some food as Black and White took a seat next to each other.

“Hey, this is it.” White’s voice whispered in Black’s ear through their private connection. “You take Red, I’ll take Cyan. Purple will be too scared to do anything. We’ve got this.”

Black’s fist tensed, now what was he going to do? Black hit a button on his suit, pulling up a schematic of the ship in his helmet. From there he could mess with the ships systems, maybe that would buy him some time?

He couldn’t cut oxygen; the imposters could survive longer than the humans. White would just let them suffocate. Lights would just set up the double kill even better. He could disable the reactor… the imposters would often use that as a way to gather the crewmates, the importance of reactor was always too great to be ignored and imposters did not let the reactor ever fully reach a meltdown; it would kill them along with the humans.

Black made his decision, it would not buy him time, but it would finally give him a limit. Black hit the reactor button and pretended to look surprised as the alarm blared around them. The emergency lights started to flicker.

White looked towards Black, but Black just shrugged in response, pretending to not know what happened.

“Just perfect. OK, we all go to reactor all right. We’ll take care of it and make our way back.” Red said leading the group down the hallway towards upper engine.

Red led the way as Cyan kept his position next to Purple. Black stuck close to White trying to plan his next move. He didn’t like it but seemed he would need to fight White one on one. The only question left, who would make the first move?

They reached upper engine when that move was made for Black as he noticed the gleam of White’s knife. White started to make a move towards the crewmate in front of him, Cyan.

Black launched himself at White’s arm to stop the blade. Black pinned White’s arm to the wall. White grunted from pain as Black twisted his arm enough to make him drop the knife. White struggled as Black used the rest of his body to keep him against the wall. 

“Black, what…” Red spun around, confused by the sudden fight.

“Go! Just fix the reactor. I’ll hold him off.” Black tried to keep White pinned by the wall. Much to his dismay White managed to escape, from his grasp. An elbow up into Black’s chin caused his helmet to detach, sending it flying and leaving Black stunned.

Now free, White lunged after the crewmates. Cyan managed to step out of the line of fire, but White got his arms around Purple.

Everyone froze as the alarm continued to blare around them. White had one arm wrapped around Purple to keep them still. He used his other hand as a weapon, his sharp claw like fingers now protruding through his glove. They dug into the seam between Purple’s suit and helmet, resting against Purple’s neck. 

Black saw Purple shaking in White’s grasp.

“What is going on?” Red demanded.

“Cyan. Red. Get to reactor and fix it. I’ll figure this out and explain later.” Black said not breaking his gaze from White.

“Come on, lets go.” Cyan said nudging Red down the hallway. Red hesitated as they stared at Black’s now revealed face but turned to follow Cyan.

“How. Dare. You.” White hissed. “You…you traitor! You’re fighting me and defending these… monsters?!” His fingers tightened against Purple’s neck.

Purple gave a whimper as the claws began to pierce their skin.

“You know the things they’ve done, just look at your face! How could you feel anything for these scum.” White seethed.

“You don’t know them. If you just spent some time learning why they are here, you would learn. Our leaders lied to us. These humans aren’t out here to attack our home, they are just trying to retrieve their ship.” Black stated moving slowly towards White.

“A ship used to attack our planet! Either way they deserve to die.”

“No, these humans, the ones in front of us have nothing to do with that. They haven’t been told the entire truth either. This is something that goes way beyond simple repair missions.”

“Has your mind been melted? Why do you suddenly care?! Humans tortured you and mutilated your face! Why doesn’t that bother you?!”

“Because I took the time to learn about them. Yea, some of them are bad, but most of them are good… its not too late White. Let Purple go and we can talk about it.”

The reactor alarm stopped. Black was now right in front of White and Purple. A deathly silence hung between the two imposters as White calculated.

“No, I’m not a traitor.”

Black moved swiftly. He got White’s hand away from Purple’s neck and attempted to move the crewmate to a safe distance.

White caught Purple’s arm as they were moved. Due to the imposters strength, it did not take much force for the arm to come off with a _RIP_.

The change in force caused Black to fall back with Purple and White to fall back against the railing of the upper engine.

Black saw his opportunity as White leaned against the railing, slightly stunned. Leaving Purple on the ground Black rushed White. White prepared to defend high, bringing his hands up to protect his face, but Black aimed low. He scooped the other imposter’s legs from underneath and tossed White backwards, into the engine.

White gave a scream as he fell into the machine. A similar red coat began to paint the engine once again as White’s body was crushed. 

Black watched for a moment, making sure White didn’t somehow survive. Once he was sure White was dead, Black turned back towards Purple, now unconscious on the ground. Blood began to pool under the crewmate from the gaping wound where their arm used to be.

Picking Purple up bridal style, Black wasted no time making the short trek to med bay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down! First time writing any sort of fight scene so sorry if its confusing or poorly done. Hope you all are still enjoying the story. Just one chapter left!


	10. There is 1 Imposter Remaining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Finally made it to the last chapter. Sorry it took so long, life has been busy this last month. I hope you all are doing well and are excited for the final chapter in this story! :) Warning for a minor panic attack in this chapter.

Cyan and Red rushed back to the upper engine. They heard a scream as they ran, but by the time they reached the engine, no one was there.

Cyan gasped as he noticed how red the engine looked as well as the pool of blood in the hallway.

“Stay vigilant, Cyan. We don’t know who is left.” Red whispered as the two started to move.

Cyan was tense as he slowly walked down the hall next to Red. Had White killed Black? Or were the two still fighting somewhere else. What happened to Purple?

The two were almost back to cafeteria when Cyan heard shuffling come from inside med bay.

Red turned towards the doorway. Cyan slowly moved towards the room, peeking his head around the corner.

Inside he saw Purple on one of the beds, Black hooking up an IV to them. Black tended carefully to Purple, his movements gentle.

Cyan noticed Purple’s suit had been partially removed, extensive bandaging wrapped around their torso and shoulder.

Cyan visibly relaxed upon seeing Black, but his anxiety was still present.

“Black, what happened?” Cyan asked as he fully entered the room and approached Black.

“White managed to hurt Purple pretty badly, their arm didn’t make it.” Black said, a frown on his face. “But I did manage to take care of White, he won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”

Cyan smiled sadly before moving to help with Purple.

Red continued to float near the door, unsure of what to do next. Cyan seemed to trust the being in front of them.

“So Black, I take it you are also one of the imposters?” Red asked, their arms crossed as they leaned against the doorframe.

Black gave Cyan a nervous glance.

“Yes, captain. I am.”

“But you helped us?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Black looked back at Red nervously, “I was sent here to hurt all of you, but after getting to know the crew and learning why you were out here… I realized that the leaders of my home lied to us. We were told you were being sent to attack us, but I learned that was wrong. That’s why I asked so many questions that one day.”

“I see. Cyan, you seem strangely comfortable with Black. How long have you known?” Red looked toward Cyan.

“Today. Black saved me from Orange, and I found out.” Cyan replied.

“Orange? He was an imposter too?” Red looked surprised.

“No, he was human,” Cyan looked at the floor “He just… tried to hurt me, but Black stopped him.”

Red’s eyes went back to Black as he busied himself with Purple. Red studied Black for a long time, their eyes not moving from the alien.

“So, what do you think we should do next?” Red asked looking back to Cyan.

“You’re asking us?” Cyan asked surprised, “But you’re the captain, shouldn’t you be choosing what to do?”

Red let out a sigh “I suppose, but there’s only 3 crewmates and an imposter left. One of my crew is currently incapacitated and you seem to know more about this situation than I do. I trust you to make a good judgment call.”

Cyan paused for a moment before turning towards Black. “What do you think?”

Black seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, “I can’t go back to my home world. I mean, I could but there is no way I could bring myself to complete any more missions. They would find out I’m a traitor sooner or later. I’d just be executed. That leaves me in your hands” Black said now locking eyes with Cyan’s helmet.

“I mean, I would like to bring you back to Polus with us, but… would that even work?” Cyan asked, looking towards Red.

“If you trust him, then we can try to sneak him onto the planet. As secure as Polus is, returning crew are not held to the same standards as new recruits, however, with over half our crew missing that may raise a few eyebrows. It would be risky, but we could try to integrate Black into our society.”

Cyan looked back at Black, waiting for his response.

“I’m willing to give it a shot.” Black said looking between the two.

“Okay. I just want you to be aware, if you are caught, then our government will try to take you captive. I have no doubt they may interrogate you for information. I have no idea how deep this conspiracy is, but I assume they have known about your kind for a while now and have not told any humans about it. Are you sure you want to take that risk?” Red asked.

“Yes, I don’t like my options going home or going off by myself. I’m willing to take the risk.” Black said standing firm.

“Then we still need to get the ship at least minimally functional. From there it will take a few days to get back to Polus, but we can worry about that when we get there. Is Purple stable?” Red asked. 

“Yes, I bandaged the arm and set up a blood infusion. The IV is set to start replacing fluids as needed. That is the best I could do, but I’m not a doctor and I only know so much about human medicine.” Black reported.

“That will be fine for now. I’ll stay in here with Purple until they wake up. Depending on what they remember, I may or may not tell them about you, Black. We may need to lie about your identity. The less people that know, the better.”

Black nodded, “I understand.”

“Good, you two go get some rest. We can start repairs in the morning; it’ll be a long few days.” Red said as they sat on the bed adjacent to Purple’s.

“Thank you, Red. Let us know if you need anything.” Cyan said as he and Black left med bay.

The walked side by side towards the bunks.

“Hey, Black… is it okay… if I stay with you? I really don’t want to be alone anymore.” Cyan asked.

“Yes, I would like that as well.” Black said reaching over to grab Cyan’s hand.

Cyan pulled the hand back quickly and swiftly took off his helmet and threw it to the side.

“Guess I won’t be needing that anymore.” Cyan smiled as he retook Black’s hand.

They entered Cyan’s room and returned to the same position they were in a few days ago, Black on his back with Cyan’s head resting on his chest.

The two laid in silence for a while, enjoying the peace while it lasted.

Black replayed the last few days in his head, wondering how it all went so bizarre. His thoughts eventually returned to Cyan and his confusing emotions for him.

“Cyan, can I ask you an…alien question?” Black said sheepishly.

Cyan laughed, “An alien question?” Cyan raised his head to look at Black. 

“There have been somethings I have been confused about due to me being raised in a military colony.” Black stated, no humor to be found.

“Yea, ask away.” Cyan smiled softly.

“Well, you see, where I was raised, we really weren’t taught about our emotions. It was strict loyalty to our leaders, discipline, and war. We were never taught about comfort or kindness. So, when you helped me that first day I was really confused as to why it felt so… good for you to be helping me. I wanted to think it was because you had to as a crewmate, but I’ve never had other crewmates do that before. I now find myself… how do I put this… drawn to you? I mean I know I like you, but I also liked most of the other crewmates too, but you… I just really want to be around you and make you happy… and I don’t feel that with the other crewmates. Is this normal?” Black finished, looking to Cyan for an answer.

Genuine confusion flashed in Black’s eyes. Cyan blushed as his small smile began to grow.

“Well, I think what you have there is a crush, Black. Its when humans really really like each other and want to spend their time together. At least that’s what we call it.”

“Hmm, a crush huh? So, does it go both ways?”

Cyan’s face started to shift to a darker red. “Well, I think I did have a small crush when I thought you were a human.”

Black’s face fell. “Oh, do you not now that you know I’m… different?” Black looked slightly hurt.

“Well, no, not just because you’re different, I guess I’m just conflicted that you killed Pink and that should make me mad at you, but at the same time you changed and learned and that makes me really like you, Black. I do really like you.” Cyan gave Black a small side hug. “I think it will just take some time. We can take things slow and see where it goes. Sound good?” Cyan smiled.

“Yes, that sounds good.” Black smiled back, his scarred lips twisting his face.

That caused Cyan to frown, “Does that hurt?” he asked looking towards the scars.

“No, not anymore. Well occasionally it twinges a bit, but nothing too terrible.” Black said running a finger along one side of his mouth.

“Maybe we can try and find someone to reverse it. Medicine is pretty advanced on Polus.”

“If we can find someone trustworthy.”

“I think I might know someone, but I guess time will tell.” Cyan said, snuggling back into Black’s side.

Black gave a content sigh as he gave Cyan another hug. “I suppose so.”

The two finally dozed off into a truly peaceful sleep.

* * *

Red was laying on a medical bay bed, a record log pulled up on a hologram from the arm of their spacesuit. There were numerous reports of crewmates dying in all sorts of accidents, ship malfunctions, and accidental airlock ejections, but nothing stated about alien life forms sneaking onto their ships. Red frowned as they continued to scroll. Dozens of dead humans and crews deemed “missing”. Red started to see the full picture. The higher ups knew, but still did not tell the people going on these missions. Red was confused as to why they wouldn’t say anything. Sure, there would be fewer volunteers for the missions, but at least then they would be prepared.

Red started digging deeper into MIRA’s history, trying to find anything about alien contact. So far, they found nothing.

Red was deep into reading when a groan startled them. Closing the screen, Red looked over towards Purple who seemed to be waking up.

“Purple, can you hear me?” Red asked standing and walking to Purple’s side.

“Ugh, Red? Am I dead?” Purpled groaned.

Red gave a slight chuckle under their breath. “No, not quite. How are you feeling?”

“Um, tired. I can’t really feel anything right now, my body is all numb.” Purple said struggling to sit up.

“Hey, don’t try to move. You’re on some pretty strong pain meds, so that’s probably why you don’t feel much.”

“Oh, okay. What happened? I don’t really remember much, I just remember it happening really fast, like it was a blur.”

“Why, don’t you start with what you remember?” Red asked, pulling up a chair next to Purple’s bed.

“Um… well I remember Blue… and the airlock. The reactor went off… I think… White attacked us? It gets really blurry, but I think Black attacked White and then… I passed out.” Purple looked over to Red, confusion on their face.

“That’s right. White was the imposter and took you hostage, Black stayed behind to fight White while Cyan and myself fixed the reactor. Black saved you and brought you here.”

“Oh, is White…”

“He’s gone and won’t be able to hurt us anymore.”

“That’s good.” Purple said relaxing into the pillows.

“Purple, there is one other thing, I’m not really sure how to put this. Black did his best but wasn’t able to save… all of you. Like I said you’re on strong pain meds so you can’t feel anything right now, but… your arm…”

Purple looked over at their shoulder, now noticing all of the bandages around the stump.

A flash of panic streaked across Purple’s face, before being taken over by a strange calmness.

“I see, well, I guess its better than being dead.” Purple gave a twinge of a smile.

“Yes, I suppose. We will keep you stable until we reach Polus, but you will need further medical attention once we get back.”

“That’s okay. Thank you, Red.” Purple said, their eyes barely staying open at this point.

“Rest, we will be home in a few days.” Red said giving Purple a soft smile.

Red waited for the young crewmate to fall asleep before making their way out of med bay. Red programmed their suit to let them know if Purple woke up or if their vitals changed.

Red walked to cafeteria where Black and Cyan now sat, eating breakfast.

“Hi Red, how’s Purple?” Cyan asked motioning for Red to join them.

“Asleep now, they woke up for a moment. I was able to get some information, they do not know about Black. So, it would be best if we kept it a secret.”

Black nodded, looking at his food.

“You will need a new helmet. There are some in the supply closet.” Red added. “We will all need new helmets; it would be best to cover our faces upon return.” Red looked towards Cyan. “What happened to yours?”

Cyan blushed, embarrassed, “heh, I ugh didn’t think we needed them anymore, so I left it in one of the hallways.” Cyan gave a guilty smile.

“Well, you’ll still need one.” Red sighed, tiredly.

“Hey, why don’t you go rest, now. Black and I can look after Purple.” Cyan offered.

“That’s not a bad idea, but we really need to get started on the ship. Cyan, do you mind watching after Purple and Black you can start on the ship? I’ll go rest for a bit then come and help you with maintenance.” Red asked.

“Yes, I can do that.” Black stated. Cyan nodded next to him, looking a little disappointed.

“Good, with that, I’m going to sleep.” Red dragged themselves to their feet and shuffled out of the cafeteria. 

“Poor Red, this must be so hard.” Cyan said once the captain had disappeared.

“I’m sure being captain in this situation was not easy, but they’re right we should start on the ship. The sooner we get back to Polus the better.” Black said.

“Are you nervous?” Cyan asked, meeting Black’s eyes.

Black looked stoic, but a flash of anxiety could be seen in his eyes.

Black frowned slightly. “Yes, but I was also well trained to deal with high stress situations. So, in a way I feel calm, but I guess this is the first time I’ve ever really wanted something to work out well for me. Before I was indifferent as long as my planet was okay in the end, but now…*sigh* it feels weird.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I’ll be sure to stick by your side.” Cyan gave a reassuring smile that Black tried to return.

“I’m going to get started on the maintenance. Let me know if you need me.” Black said as he got up from the table. He made his way to electrical to start getting all the wires back in place. White had really made a mess of the place while he could and now Black had to clean it up.

He worked swiftly, getting the wires reconnected before re-routing the power supply. It was nice being able to do his work in quiet. No worrying about having to take out crewmates and no more second imposter to keep an eye on. He could just work and move on.

Black’s thoughts drifted to a life on Polus. Just being able to do his tasks day to day. Being able to see Cyan. Black smiled at the thought. His face quickly fell as he began to think of the nuances of living among humans. He knew enough about human culture to get by on these shorter missions, but to live with them? He would need to talk with Cyan about it.

Black finished up in electrical and began to fuel the lower and upper engine. While in upper engine Black noticed the blood stain from Purple’s wound on the ground. He made a mental note to clean it up later. His eyes drifted towards the engine, still red with White’s blood. Black shuttered at the thought of being crushed in the machine.

Tearing his eyes away, he finished adding the fuel and headed back to cafeteria. Passing by med bay he glanced in and saw Cyan sitting on a chair in front of the specimen table. It made sense, Cyan could get one more job done while still watching Purple, even if that task didn’t help the ship run, it must be nice to have something to distract himself from the stress of yesterday.

Black fixed the wires in cafeteria before heading down to admin.

There he found Red uploading some data. Black froze in the doorway for a moment unsure of how to proceed. Although Red seemed okay with him, Black did not want to make a bad impression. 

Red glanced at the imposter, still helmetless. Black was grateful that he replaced his, his face would surely give away how uncomfortable he was.

“Hello Black, am I in your way?” Red asked calmly.

“Oh, ugh no I just need to do the wires.” Black said taking his place next to Red.

The two worked in silence for a moment, Red’s face painted with consideration.

“When you asked me all those questions about MIRA and our missions, had you already had a change of heart?” Red asked looking towards Black.

Black stared at the panel in front of him, hands pausing on the wires. “To be honest, I think it happened the first day on the ship. I always get really space sick when in the transport vessels. Cyan had offered to take all my tasks that day so I could go and rest. Despite me always getting sick, Cyan was the first person to ever show that much kindness to me. My kind taught me humans hate each other and that you do not look out for one another. Cyan and this crew showed me that was wrong. I learned that part pretty fast, but I was curious how much you knew about your missions.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Well, not glad that your kind want to kill humans, but glad that Cyan was able to change your mind before you talked to me.” Red gave a small smile. “I am worried though, I looked through as many files as I could and there is nothing published about alien contact or crews being attacked.”

“That is strange. How do they cover up all the deaths?”

“They report it as accidents or ship malfunctions. Nothing about murder.” Red now frowned deeply. “When we get back, I want to try to get to the bottom of this.”

“That could be dangerous. From what you told me MIRA doesn’t seem like the kind to be messed with.” 

Red gave a huff of laughter, “You’re right, MIRA isn’t the type to be messed with. If I’m found sneaking around, I’m sure it won’t end well. I have a feeling it won’t end well if I do nothing either.”

Black frowned as he kept working. Red seemed to get lost in their thoughts as they pulled up some files on the administration table.

“How will that even work? If no one has talked about the sabotages… what happens to the crews that make it back? I know some of our missions have failed, so the crew must have survived right?” Black looked back towards Red.

Red paused for a moment, running the question over in their mind.

“You bring up a good point, Black. I wonder what will happen…” Red drifted off again.

Black thought it best to leave the captain to their thoughts as he closed the wire panel. Now that the wires were done all that was really left was the reactor and navigation.

“Would you like me to do reactor or navigation next?” Black asked.

“You can leave both for now and go rest. I’ll have Cyan fix up the reactor since he is the most experienced with it and navigation can wait until reactor is finished. I’m going to stay here and look through some more archives. Please, go rest. I’m sure you’re tired after these last few days.” Red gave a small smile to the imposter.

“Thank you, Red.” Black began to leave admin before he stopped and turned back to face Red. “And thank you for giving me a chance.”

Red’s smile grew as he gave a nod to Black. “Of course.”

Black retreated to med bay to check in on Cyan and Purple. He found Cyan sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on the end of Purple’s bed. Purple was still out cold. 

Black’s footsteps drew Cyan’s attention as he looked towards Black.

“Hey, how’s maintenance going?” Cyan asked as Black walked over.

“Good, I think I am done for today. Red said to leave reactor to you and that we can finish navigation once that is done.”

“Oh… okay.” A look of worry crossed Cyan’s face.

“Are you okay?” Black asked wondering what could be troubling Cyan.

“Oh, nothing. Just not super excited about going back to reactor after what happened.”

“Would you like me to join you?”

“I would appreciate it.” Cyan smiled up at Black.

“How is Purple?” Black said changing the subject.

“Well vitals are steady, and they are still unconscious. So not too bad at the moment, all things considered.” Cyan said sitting up properly in his seat.

“That is good.” Black sighed.

The two watched Purple in silence, a calm peace settling between the two.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway before stopping in the doorway. Black and Cyan both looked up to see Red entering the room.

“I hope you two are doing okay. Any problems with Purple?” Red asked.

“No, they are still stable.” Cyan replied.

“Good, I will take over watching Purple if you two want to finish up the reactor. Once that is done it should be enough for the ship to limp the rest of the way back to Polus. It will take a few days, but we’ll make it. We can come up with a plan for Black when we get closer. Getting the ship running and on course will be enough for today.” Red said as they swapped places with Cyan.

“Sounds good. We will finish up everything and meet up with you tomorrow.” Cyan said as he and Black headed towards the door.

“Thank you, both of you. Rest well.” Red said turning their attention to Purple.

Black and Cyan made their way out of medbay towards reactor. Black noticed Cyan fidgeting the closer they got, not that Black could blame him. He wouldn’t want to go back there either if he was in Cyan’s place.

Cyan pointedly looked up at the ceiling as they passed through upper engine, the blood still on the floor. Black saw the discomfort on Cyan’s face. Hoping to help, he reached over and grabbed the shorter man’s hand. Giving it a squeeze, Black relaxed slightly as Cyan squeezed back. Black did not release Cyan’s hand as they continued to walk. Even as they reached the reactor Black’s grip became tighter as he felt Cyan tense up next to him.

Black frowned as he heard Cyan’s breathing pick up. Short fast breaths could be heard from the man. A panic attack, Black realized the events of the past few days must finally be catching up with him.

Black released Cyan’s hand and moved to face him. “Cyan, you okay?” Black asked.

Cyan was frozen, staring past Black at nothing. No, not nothing, Black noticed Cyan’s gaze was pointed down towards the floor behind Black.

Looking back, Black discovered Cyan was starting at the vent on the floor. Orange’s body was still there. Out of sight, but still the knowledge that his body was still in the vent sent a shiver up Black’s spine.

Black readjusted his position so that his body was blocking Cyan’s view of the vent. He slowly moved his hand to Cyan’s face and gently tilted his face upwards.

“Hey, look at me.” Black said quietly, using his other hand to hit the switch for his helmet. The visor retracted so Black’s face could be seen. 

A few moments passed, but Cyan met Black’s eyes. Black could see the fear in Cyan’s face.

“He’s gone and can’t hurt you anymore, okay? I know you’re scared and that’s okay but know I’m here to help you. Whatever you need me to do.” Black said gently.

Cyan continued to lock eyes with Black, the anxiety slowly fading away, although not completely disappearing.

“Thank you.” Cyan whispered.

Black rested his forehead against Cyan’s, closing his eyes.

“Anytime.” He whispered back.

They stayed like that for a few moments before Cyan pulled away and moved towards the reactor. Black moved with him, continuing to block the view of the vent. Cyan got into position under the reactor panel and started his work.

Black stood by, not moving his protective gaze from the crewmate.

It took a while for Cyan to get the reactor back into working order, but eventually the ship was up and running. Once he was finished, Cyan slid out from under the panel with a sigh. “Finally done.”

“Good job.” Black said extending a hand to Cyan. Cyan took Black’s hand and he helped the other to his feet.

The two finally left the reactor and made the trek towards navigation. The last step needed before the ship headed back to Polus.

The two walked close together, brushing up against one another every so often.

“Hey Cyan,” Black said, “I was just thinking, I really don’t know that much about human culture. I know enough to get by on missions, but I don’t know how easily I’ll be able to blend in on Polus.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to stick by and help you out. We have a few days to teach you too.” Cyan said a small smile starting to find his face. “Actually, I think I might have an idea.” Cyan said looking up at Black, who had fully removed his helmet. Black looked back, confusion in his eyes.

The two finally reached navigation. Cyan sat in the head navigation chair and worked on typing in the coordinates for Polus. The ship groaned as it began to move towards its new destination. Finally, the ship started to lurch forward, making its way home.

The stars slowly started to shift as the ship moved past them. Cyan happily looked out the window at the sight. Black took a moment to look at the stars too but found it hard to move his eyes away from Cyan.

“Okay, now for my idea.” Cyan said looking towards Black happily.

Cyan grabbed a few boxes from a shelf in navigation and grabbed Black’s hand. He led the other back towards his room.

As the door slid shut behind them Cyan released Black’s hand and tossed the boxes onto his bed. Cyan started to shed his space suit, leaving him in his shirt and pants.

“You can take off your suit too, if you’re comfortable.” Cyan gave Black a smile as he started to mess with the boxes.

Black fiddled with the zipper on his suite. He wore clothes under the suite and although Black was not shy about his body, he didn’t want to scare Cyan away with how… different he was.

Releasing a breath, Black pulled down the zipper on his suit. Cyan finished fiddling with something in the wall and froze as he turned around. Black was now standing in the center of the room, wearing only a tank top and a pair of athletic pants. Cyan’s eyes were drawn to how muscular Black was. What was normally covered by the suit, Cyan could now clearly see how large Black’s arm muscles were. It was testament to how strong he was.

“Wow.” Cyan breathed. Blacked looked back at him, still looking mildly uncomfortable. “Um, I mean, egh… my plan. Have you every seen a movie or TV show before?” Cyan asked fumbling with a remote from the nightstand next to his bed. He clicked a button and a screen in the wall popped on, a DVD menu showing on the screen.

“No.” Black replied.

“Ah, well it won’t be perfect, but I figured a good way to introduce you to human culture would be to watch some movies and tv. Usually, it’s a bit exaggerated but I figured you could ask some questions and get a feel for what humans are like.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Black said not moving his eyes away from the screen.

Cyan hopped up onto his bed, leaving enough space for Black to join him. Black hesitated, eyeing the spot next to Cyan.

“You can sit in the chair if you want.” Cyan smiled at Black.

Black glanced at the chair but decided against it and took the spot Cyan left. He tensed as his shoulder brushed up against Cyan’s. Cyan didn’t miss how rough Black’s skin felt. He also noticed patches of what looked like scales in a few places along Black’s arms.

Cyan gave Black a smile and reached through the gap between Black’s arm and body. Cyan took Black’s hand as he leaned back against the wall, getting comfortable before starting the movie.

Cyan took a moment to really feel Black’s hand against his now that there were no gloves in the way. He was finally able to get a good look at the claw like fingers. The scales lined parts of the back of Black’s hand as well, the top rough like the rest of his skin. The inside of the Black’s hand was surprisingly soft, something Cyan was not expecting.

As the movie ran Black became more engrossed, his mind no longer on his self-consciousness. He eventually relaxed against the wall too, leaning against Cyan more. He asked questions as they came to mind, all that Cyan happily answered.

The two watched movies late into the night as the ship made its way to Polus. The next few days acting as a nice break before they returned home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally made it to the end! I hope you all enjoyed it :) I really enjoy writing these characters and am planning on a sequel story about when the crew finally make it back to Polus. It may be a bit before I start to publish it as I am still working out the plot details but be on the look out for that if you want more of these characters! 
> 
> Thank you to all who left kudos and such kind comments! You all really make my day :)
> 
> Until next time,  
> The_Sassy_Raccoon


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